The Lost
by Cabba
Summary: Harry's third year is no less interesting. He realizes that his entire family is out to get him. His convicted Godfather, his aunt's 'mother', his late parents and sister... apparently everyone has something to say. The pain never truly leaves him when he understands what he has Lost. (Sequel to The Memory!) AU.
1. Painless

**Here it is! I hope you find it satisfying. Guess what?! Percy's making another appearance here along with two other PJO characters!**

**Thanks for everyone who reviewed in The Memory! **

**xXTheDragonRiderXx – Your guess was the closest possible! Brilliant! I've missed you reading my stories.**

**Warning – Unknown Character Death, Mentions of other deaths.**

**Listening to – Breath of Life by 'Florence + The Machine'**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. They are fictional works (duh!) and belong to the respective authors.**

**Words – 2256**

* * *

It was after the sun set that Harry walked out on the deserted streets.

To anyone, it may seem as though he were a normal young boy walking home after a day in a ground with a bunch of friends.

But this particular person was a child in only looks. He had a lean build with a proper and quiet respect to his surroundings. He wore black jeans and a black hoodie and was clearly doing his best to blend in with the evening crowd. Walking past a few blocks, he stopped and put up his hood. It covered his unruly hair and sharp eyes, making him seem even more invisible.

The boy was Harry Potter. A seemingly normal wizard.

Sitting down on the bench by the pavement, he made sure he was soliciting by any of the close houses in Woking.

It grew darker. Soon, the number of people outside, decreased and the street light where the brightest points in the quiet neighborhood. After the lights in the houses switched off, Harry looked around once to see if he was being watched. He had unnaturally good eye sight in the dark even if he needed his round glasses.

It was close to midnight now. He got up and walked towards a particular house in mind, with the knowledge that he couldn't be seen clearly if someone did look out their windows.

Another block down and he stopped looking up at the clean white painted house. A two storied building with three windows facing the street. Harry looked up once and sighed, silently opening the gate. He walked to the door and felt it locked.

Not wanting any evidence of a broken door to be left behind, he walked around the house and saw that the side window on the first floor was slightly lifted to let some breeze in.

He took a few steps back and ran, placing one foot on a small ledge on the ground floor window to leap upwards to grab the ledge on the first floor. He carefully distributed his weight, in order to let the ledges remain intact. He looked up and pulled himself a bit more, pushing up the window as quietly as he could. Once he climbed in, he looked around.

It was a kind of large storeroom. Some boxes were stacked with dust lingering on it. There was a pile of mattresses pushed into the other corner. It must have been done recently, because there was no dust around or on it.

Harry carefully swung the already open door and let himself in the small hallway. The dark house felt claustrophobic and it made him want to finish what he came for.

He saw the door at the end and since it was the only other door on the first floor, he assumed it to be the master bedroom.

Harry stuck his hand into his jacket pocket and came up with some bright red berries. A look at them was all it took to feel thirsty. Harry swallowed and placed them on an empty plate by the sink.

Now he needed a small disturbance.

He spotted the kitchen below and descended the stairs. The kitchen wasn't very neat at all. There were left over beer bottles and pans with something still in them. Harry went and opened the tap a little, letting it drip slowly.

He then went into the living room and sat behind the only couch there was.

It took nearly an hour.

Soon, the echoing sound of the dripping tap seemed to get louder with each drop. As it crossed the line of irritation, Harry heard the upstairs door creak open, followed by loud footfalls. The staircase creaked too and Harry waited silently, hoping that the man who had just switched on the kitchen light to close the tap hadn't heard his loud beating heart.

The man grumbled something and the noise of the drips stopped. There was a pause in silence and then a grumble.

Harry poked his head from the side and watch and saw the man grab some of the berries and stuff them into his mouth. Munching on them, he lazily walked back, switching off the kitchen light and plunging them into darkness.

A second later, there was sound of the man coughing. Harry's eyes adjusted to see the large silhouette grabbing his neck and make a choking sound.

There was a horrible moment of silence when the man convulsed and fell to the floor. After a few twitches, he was still.

Harry sat there for a few minutes thinking about what he had done. He felt a little at fault for killing the man but then reminded himself that it hadn't been too painful.

Ignoring his guilty conscience, he stood up and headed to the door. Before he could reach the handle, he heard a small 'creak'.

Turning around swiftly, wondering if the man was actually still alive, Harry's heart skipped a beat when he saw the man still laying on the ground dead.

Then he saw the form of a small child, standing on the stairs, hands clutching the banister. He looked to be a small boy at the age of six, may be seven. He was shaking a bit, his large, dark eyes fixed on Harry.

The two stared at each other. Harry swore mentally. No witness, damnit!

The man deserved death but not the child. Harry clenched both his palms and walked with deliberate slowness towards the young child.

He leaned down to face the boy and knowing that he could see Harry's face faintly, he said, choosing his words carefully, "Later in life, if you want revenge and not an explanation, come and find me."

Sticking his hands in his hoodie pockets, Harry left the silent house just as silently.

* * *

Sighing, he swung up his maple tree and climbed into his room. He shut the window completely and lay down on his bed to stare at the ceiling.

It was a swift and painless end. He had earned it. He dug his own grave. Harry just gave a push. A small quick push.

Harry let out a soft groan and fisted his hands over his eyes. When he had first taken a life, there hadn't been any pain for him. Just a simple scene of watching all his victims eat his berries and fall without a pulse. He hadn't left any clue or evidence behind for the law to catch him. Besides, they were on the run from the law. So the police had an unknown ally on their side.

Never mind the unknown ally was a kid.

But now, his life was changing. There was more to living than thinking of the past. Harry actually felt guilty with every death. It was as if he pitied them. But they didn't need his compassion. They had none themselves.

Very few of them had families. Most preferred to be detached. The boy who had seen him was Robert McCallister, whose father led a different life to what the child had been led to believe.

No one had ever seen him when he had taken the others down. He was always careful. But this first slip-up was because he had hesitated for a while and had stayed in the house wasting those precious moments.

He'd never hesitated before! He was slipping.

The small clock on the bed soon showed the time as five in the morning. He hadn't slept the entire night. Harry got up and frowned at the window. His eyes were wide when he saw a few owls staring at him as they sat on the branches of the maple tree outside his window. They all had packages with they clutched o tightly patiently waiting for him.

Harry jumped up and let them in. Along with them, Hedwig was present and Bolt leaped in too.

"_Ughhh! You should've seen me, Harry! I turned into a wolf, for a few minutes, though. But it felt amazing_!"

Harry raised an eyebrow and stared at Bolt. She looked as though she blushed under his stare, "_Alright fine, I was a wolf cub, but I'm quite sure I was adorable."_

Harry rolled his eyes and let Bolt climb his shoulders. Hedwig gave her a steady look before haughtily raising her foot towards Harry.

"It's okay, girl. There's no competition between you and Bolt." Harry assured her as he took her letter.

Both Bolt and Hedwig gave a noise of disbelief.

Harry shot them a look before opening his letter from Hermione.

The other three owls were from Ron and Neville, Hagrid and DJ respectively.

Birthday wishes. Oh, yeah. He was thirteen, wasn't he?

Well, he hadn't forgotten it. There had been so many things he'd been busy with in the past few weeks since coming back from Hogwarts.

He'd had no sleep with his recurring nightmares with a large snake and burning pain from Bolt looking into a basilisk's eyes. He had to refer to his Occlumency book for some calm moments. And of course, he still hadn't gotten over from seeing Percy Jackson in a green mist when the world spinning stopped on its axis.

It must have been his introduction to his teenage years made by the fates themselves.

Hermione had given him a complementary book to Occlumency - Developments on Mind Shields. 300 pages of pure intellectual use of the advanced memory. It was perfect for Harry. Hermione was on vacation in France and the particular author was on tour in Paris. She had even gotten the book autographed. It was thankful to know that she had moved on from Gilderoy Lockhart so quickly.

Ron had given him a new set of Quidditch goggles and a pack of Egyptian Scripts with English translations on Ruins and Treasures. Harry's eyes skimed over the new language. He wasn't done with Goblintongue, but he would be soon. Then he can start on Egyptian.

He took a look at his copy of the Daily Prophet which showed a picture of the Weasley family touring in Egypt after having won a lottery. He had amused himself with the fact that one of his best friends had gone to France, his other best friend was in Egypt and his baby brother was in New York.

May be.

Harry sighed. He opened DJ's pack next and stared at what his cousin had packed. He slowly lifted the dark red jacket. It was his size, and was of Gryffindor designs with Gold stitches and a small lion which moved around in front of the pocket. There was a sentence stitched on the back.

_Trouble's my middle name._

It certainly is, Harry thought. The hood had a small amount of gold designs but the red had a look of blood on it. Though he preferred black, he was quite sure he could pull off, wearing something that looked like it was soaked in blood. Dark humour. Harry gave it some thought. If he would ever plan to develop a proper sense of humour, may be dark would suit him.

Harry put the red jacket down and read DJ's letter.

_Hey Harry,_

_Before you complain about your gift not being black, the jacket's a two-in-one type. You can turn it inside out and the second one's black. Plus, you look great in the Quidditch Robes, so the jacket (both sides ) is perfect for you._

_Happy Birthday! What's it like being 13? Any magical change in thought or magic?_

_So, I'm guessing Hermione sent you a book or something. But have you heard? Ginny and her family are in Egypt with her older brother, Bill! That's sounds super! You think we can go somewhere? Just a small trip. You know where I'm talking about…_

_I just got another letter from Mrs. McCarty and I just figured it out! I know what she is! But it doesn't matter. I know it doesn't bother you either! She said that Dumbledore's already talked to her entire family for a visit at Hogwarts. She didn't exactly say visit, but I think there's something more. But the main part is that we can see her! And her family!_

_Yeah, there's this nervousness but really, I'm excited! I'm pretty sure you are too._

_So enjoy your day! Don't go and think too much about what happened with that vision you saw last year. At least for a day. I believe you and Ginny does too. Sorry this letter was late, but the jacket was ordered in late, I wasn't really sure whether I should get you a book, but then the jacket idea got me and there you are!_

_Happy Birthday again!_

_DJ. Potter._

Harry rubbed his thumb on the parchment once before setting it down and picking up the jacket again. He turned it inside out and felt comforted with the familiar black colour. There was no saying on the back. So Harry decided to try his own.

This was one of the simplest types of magic possible. Making a mark. So he took advantage of the situation and for the first time, tried wandless magic.

With his finger, he concentrated on the jacket as though he wanted to burn a hole out of it. Slowly, the points where he touched turned bright red and he wrote using a small twig he borrowed from a sparrow's nest on the maple tree.

_I'm never wrong. I once thought I was; turns out, I was mistaken._

He slept better after that.

* * *

**You may not have understood some of Harry's thoughts about what he had done in the past, but everything will soon be unraveled.**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter!**

**Cabba.**


	2. That Hurt

**Glad to know I still have people interested in my work. I'm going to make this story at the most 15 chapters. Some Twilight elements – fair warning to those who don't like Twilight. It's not about Bella and Edward.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series (shocker, I know…)**

**Words – 4405**

**Listening to – 'I wanna know you' by Miley Cyrus&David Archeluta**

* * *

May be it was because he had spent a long night. Or maybe it was due to his first success at wandless magic.

Whatever the case, Harry had actually slept in till it was nearly eight in the morning. Once he was awake, he had felt well rested and was in a better mood. He actually decided to do some cleaning around his room. So, yeah. He was in a good mood.

That is, until he went down the stairs and stopped in shock.

There, sitting in a chair which looked to be far too small for her, was Monster Marge.

Aunt Marge - as Harry was supposed to call her - was even worse that the Dursleys. She was a hellhound and baby basilisk packed in one. Being Vernon Dursley's older sister, she made sure to run the house whenever she came over. At least, his aunt didn't seem too happy about her presence either. It was probably the medium sized pug sitting by Monster Marge's feet. Ripper always had a soft spot for Harry and that made Marge hate him even more.

Harry did his best to ignore her. Pushing her out of his thoughts, Harry went into the kitchen and had a small breakfast before cleanly slipping out the house.

He was sure she had caught the sight of him leaving, though. He could feel mental knives hitting the back of his head.

With a flip over the large wall, Harry soon found himself running through the forest. The leaves whipped past him and he felt Bolt jump out and run beside him too. Jumping over the stream, they continued running until they reached the tallest tree in the forest.

"_I love this tree_." Bolt sighed. Harry gave a nod and gave a running start to begin climbing it.

It was just like in his dream.

He felt almost at peace when he climbed it and made sure to take the most difficult branches just to make it longer. Soon, after reaching the top, Harry looked over the vast scenery.

One side opened on to the end of the forest which thinned and ended with a large cliff. On the other side of the cliff was another plateau like formation from where the forests grew thicker and extended on for miles.

Harry turned back to watch the beginning of Surrey houses and civilization. If he had to pick, the forest would be, hands down, much better to live in.

For him.

Harry sat on one of the branches and leaned against the thin trunk. Bolt gave a stretch and turned into a cat. She jumped onto Harry's shoulders and curled into a tiny ball.

He rubbed his thumb on the back of her neck slowly, relaxing her. The quiet of the scene was beautiful and Harry placed his left hand on another branch.

He frowned and concentrated on his Core. Slowly, but surely, his hand carefully sunk into the branch. It was as though his hand was a part of the tree.

Harry pulled his hand away and twisted around, scaring Bolt of his shoulders. She snarled at him and jumped on a higher branch to watch him.

He stared at the ground for a second. It seemed nearly thirty feet away. Placing both hands on the trunk, Harry tensed until his palms went into the tree up till half his forearm.

His bit the inside of his cheek, contemplating something. And then he disappeared altogether into a small green glow.

Bolt lifted her head and stared. "_Harry?"_

"_Here."_ He called mentally.

She looked down and stared at him standing on the ground. He gave her a shrug as though saying, _Well, it was bound to happen, eventually_.

Harry cleared his throat and flexed his wrist and fingers. His skin was tingling as he felt his magic wash over him. It was a wonderful feeling. It gave him a sense of freedom, having known what his Core could do. He travelled through the tree by being a part of it. He wasn't sure how else to describe it.

Harry looked up at the leaves. They swayed slightly at his gaze and quivered a bit. Harry sighed. If he had his way, he would have lived in a tree house. Or may be in a tree.

* * *

It was nearly sunset, when he went back to the house. Before entering the kitchen, he took a look at the window at the neighbouring house. No one looked back at him, though.

He quietly walked in the house, listening to the Dursleys have supper and watch the news on TV.

"… _of Ford McCallister, aged 48, found dead in his own home. Police report that there has been no leads yet in the investigation, but there has been talks about Danvis being a part of a high profile syndicate group, recently gone underground. The possible witness, his son, Robert McCallister, aged 6, has not said a word to anyone. The only kin of the family has been contacted for the adoption …"_

"Hmm. He probably didn't lock his door. Of course, if he's a part of a criminal group, he would have never gotten out!" Monster Marge barked at the screen.

Harry took an apple from the fruit basket and was about to sneak up the stairs, when a voice shouted, "Boy!"

Gritting his teeth, Harry turned around and said, "My name's Harry."

Aunt Marge gave him a sneer and boomed, "He's still as ungrateful as he was the last time!"

"Actually, I didn't talk to you, last time." Harry reminded her. He remembered when he was nine. Christmas had been horrible with her. But Harry had kept his mouth shut every time she had yelled and that had only increased her anger. Suffice to say, she had shouted about writing him off her will. As if he had even been on it.

"A little more respect, boy!"

"Why? It's not like you deserve it." He mumbled the last part.

Aunt Marge's eyes went small as she glared at him. Her dog Ripper got and gave a bark. He bounded towards Harry and sniffled his shoes. Harry bent and patted him on the head.

"RIPPER!"

Ripper ran back.

"You think you're so smart, but let me tell you one thing, boy, you have to be hard-working to reach success and if you laze around like your drunk father did, you'll be a runt too!"

Bolt swore mentally.

"Don't talk about things you don't understand." Harry said in an even tone.

"How dare you?! See, Petunia? I did tell you to just dump him in the orphanage. It's a pity you have such a kind heart. If you'd have listened to me, you wouldn't have to put up with an ungrateful little brat like him!"

"Takes one to know one." Harry retorted.

The large woman almost swelled up in anger. Harry could have sworn that steam came from her nose. He probably shouldn't have, but he couldn't help riling her up.

"Runts should be put down. Remember when I told you, Vernon about that tiny dog that came about in my house. Had the Colonel drown it. No sense in raising wastrels when you know they're up to no good.

Bolt gave a growl, but Harry held her in. As much as he hated Monster Marge, he had no wish for her to die slowly and painfully.

No if it could be connected back to him.

He took a bite of the apple deliberately looking at her, before turning around to head upstairs.

"Petunia, not everyone can have an angel like our little Dudders here (Harry snorted), but I have to say, that your sister was the black sheep. And, of course, if something's wrong with the bitch, there's something wrong with the pup."

Harry stopped climbing the steps. Bolt appeared on his shoulder and bared her teeth.

The glass Monster Marge was holding broke.

Aunt Petunia screamed. Dudley ducked under the table and Uncle Vernon shouted at Harry, "BOY!"

Harry wasn't sure how to control himself. Belatedly, he remembered the introduction in his Occlumency book.

**Breathing and awareness coincides when the reader brings his consciousness into the first level…**

Before Harry could take his next breath, he heard her say, "It's a good thing at least, that your sister's daughter isn't bothering you either, Petunia."

The light blinked once and went out. The wind picked up as Harry went back down the stairs towards the table to face Marge Dursley.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll just keep your mouth shut for the rest of your stay, here." Harry threatened darkly.

Aunt Marge stared back and in the darkness, he could see her flush. It wasn't very dark though. The dusk had passed them and the slight clouds kept everything in mid-light.

"How dare you –"

"New rules. If you ever insult my family again, you'll regret it." Harry's voice lowered to a whisper.

Dudley gave a whimper and tried to hide himself behind his large dish of pudding. Uncle Vernon seemed to be speechless and Aunt Petunia looked to be on the verge of running away, screaming.

Aunt Marge looked speechless too, but then hissed, "I will not be talked to like that, you worthless little –"

What happened next was so rapid, that Harry found himself dragging his trunk out of Privet Drive, House no. 4. Bolt was at his heels thinking about how she got Ripper to bite Uncle Vernon's leg. Hedwig was perched on Bolt's back as Harry seemed too tense to hold either of his animals.

Harry stopped walking suddenly and looked up at the window of House no. 3.

There was that boy. The young boy who looked like the dead, staring down at him from an upstairs bedroom window.

Harry glared at the five year old boy. He was almost sure he knew who it was. He wasn't absolutely certain, though. The boy gave back a scrutinizing look.

Harry shook his head and walked away as the night darkened.

* * *

He walked for more than twelve minutes before he stopped and sighed. His breath turned into a fog in the cold night.

What was he doing?

"Come on." He muttered and wheeled the trunk towards the pavement. He set down his bag as sat on the cold stone, rubbing his hands.

"_You shouldn't have left_." Bolt said leaping into his lap and settling calmly. Hedwig nipped his ear and flew towards his shoulder. He stroked her feathers and agreed with Bolt, "I suppose so. But I wasn't sure whether the kitchen would stay intact. They'd blame me for blasting the house."

Hedwig hooted as if to say that she had enjoyed the show. Bolt laid her snout on his knee and he felt a little better.

That is, until the streetlight, above him, went out.

Harry frowned at the post.

"I shouldn't even be having accidental magic. I'm not angry anymore… what's –"

Bolt gave a growl and leapt out of his lap. She stared at the bushes on the other side of the road, behind a side bench. Harry followed her lead and pulled out his wand and braced himself.

He listened to the plant. The wind was causing it to move a bit too roughly. The roots didn't like that. Harry blinked when he felt the presence of a large animal of a sort between the bushes.

"It's just a dog, Bolt." Harry whispered. Bolt bared her teeth at the plant and then the dog stepped out.

It was a black shaggy dog. Harry wasn't sure what breed it was, but he didn't feel threatened by its presence. The dog had a slightly skinny look despite its size and Harry looked towards Bolt who was still growling at the larger dog.

The black dog had blue eyes which seemed familiar to Harry. For a fleeting moment, he thought of Sally, but then shook his head, mentally. No, her eyes were a pale reflective blue. The dog facing him seemed to gauge Bolt's stance and started to back away slowly.

'_It's probably just hungry_.' Harry thought. Bolt was quiet for a few minutes before saying, '_Fine. Pet him, or whatever. He just seemed different for a second._'

Harry gave the decrepit dog another look before digging into his new jacket to come up with some strawberries he had stuffed in there a while ago.

"Here, boy. Come on." He said softly kneeling down to lay some of the bright pink pips on the grass. The dog tilted his head before giving Bolt another stare.

Bolt sighed and jumped onto Harry's trunk, sitting quietly.

The dog seemed to take this as an invitation and slowly came up to sniff the strawberries. He immediately gave Harry a pleased bark before munching them down. Harry made a few more appear and the new dog hungrily gobbled up everything. Harry ran his left hand through the fur behind the dog's neck and patted his head.

"You're a good boy, aren't you? I'll tell you one thing. I thought nobody liked strawberries more than Percy. He always wanted me to make blue strawberries. I told him about blueberries, but he wanted blue strawberries. That's unnatural, isn't it?"

Bolt gave a huff and Hedwig watched Harry curiously. The black dog seemed to be giving him a lot of attention too.

"Well, the three of you may not understand, but it really is a big deal. Blue strawberries…, unnatural. Actually, the thing is that I can do it. It's a simple work of changing the amount of plant hormones determining the hue of each section like stems, leaves, flowers. It also gives a slight tangy taste to the fruit if I make it blue; but Percy likes blue and he'd love it even more if it's tangy sweet."

Harry shook his head, sighing dramatically. The black dog gave a small whine and placed his snout on Harry's knee.

"Don't ever tell him this, but I'd make blue strawberries for him if I could get to see him again. That vision I saw last year? It was real. Everything stopped and I saw him. He hadn't changed much. He was the same height as me, bright eyes, a confused but happy face... He's younger than he's supposed to be, you know? That's what I like about him."

"_Because he's sounds like the total opposite of you and you're older than you're supposed to be_?" Bolt asked snidely. Harry shot her a glare before sighing again.

"You look familiar. I must have seen you before 2001." Harry said diverting the topic while looking at the dog's ears flapping about.

The dog barked. Bolt raised her head.

"_I can't understand him."_ She said sharply and jumped off the trunk. She padded over to the newcomer and gave him a long hard look.

After a few moments, the dog bounded off as Bolt started barking madly. Harry picked her up and brought her to his eye level.

"That wasn't very nice." He chided her. Bolt growled at him not liking the baby treatment she was receiving.

Hedwig gave a series of hoots. Harry frowned at her wondering if she was choking on something when Bolt started barking and growling again. Harry grabbed her tightly around her midriff and asked, "What's wrong, now?!"

"_Hedwig's laughing at me_!"

"Gee, I wonder why!"

"_Oh, don't you start! You're the one who ran away from home_!"

Harry glared at her. "First off, that's not my home. Second, I needed to get out. Third, we'll just stay at the Leaky Cauldron."

Bolt rolled her eyes. It was strange watching a dog roll it's eyes. It made Bolt look human, where in fact, she wasn't even actually a dog.

Harry thought about that for a second.

"Hey, Bolt? Why are you a dog?"

Bolt let out a whine and put her paw on her face… a face-palm, or rather, a face-paw.

"_You're a dog kinda person. 'Nough said. I know where to go. Hold on_."

"What?" Harry asked frowning at the sudden change in conversation. Bolt reached out her paw to place it on his trunk from where Hedwig was watching Bolt's movements.

The world disappeared and Harry lost his voice so he couldn't use it to swear. Bolt was teleporting them without even preparation!

It was uncomfortable. It usually wasn't. But Harry wasn't the only one who had something to complain about.

The moment they hit the ground, Hedwig let out a lot of screeching and pecked Harry's head hard.

"Damn it! Hedwig! It wasn't me! Bolt's to blame!"

Hedwig immediately flew towards Bolt but the little familiar jumped out of the way and ran into Harry.

"Oh no you don't!" Harry grabbed her by the scruff of her neck. She gave him a sad puppy dog look, blinking her large hazel eyes rapidly to give the impression that she was the most innocent little being in the world. Her size - now small with the teleportation's use of magic - suited the look very well. It definitely would have worked on anyone who would have even a small sense of personal forgiveness.

Not on Harry, though.

"What was that for?!" He asked half-angry and half-upset for some reason. Hedwig flew to his shoulder and gave Bolt a hard stare.

"_I don't know! Your inner conflict is messing with my emotions! I'm the one who should be cursing stuff! My head is attached to a just turned teenage boy_!"

Harry just stared at her.

"That isn't an answer!"

"_It makes sense to me. And look! Hedwig agrees with me! She's not glaring at me anymore_!"

Hedwig was indeed looking away from them. In fact, she turned her head nearly 180 degrees to look at the large wall behind them.

Harry frowned recognizing the place, even though it was dark.

"Why did you take us to Danny's orphanage?" Harry asked slowly.

Bolt looked up the tall white painted wall and said before yawning, "_It's the first place that popped up in my mind_."

Harry frowned at her, "I had suggested The Leaky Cauldron."

"_Yeah… but… 'night."_

Her voice trailed off and she fell asleep in his palm. Harry gave her a look of disbelief before shaking his head and slipping her into his hoodie pocket carefully.

"Well, Hedwig. What should we do now?" Harry said placing his hands on his hips.

"You can start by giving me an explanation of what you're doing here." A voice came from above.

Harry looked up and stared at his cousin, Daniel Potter, casually sitting on the wall, grinning as he looked down at Harry, his owl and his trunk.

* * *

"So, you're running away?"

"I'm not running away, per se. I just needed some fresh air to get away from the things which are registered in the official Ministry database as my 'family'."

Harry leaned into the window of DJ's small but clean room in the orphanage. The twelve year old boy was actually a neat person compared to his cousin. The room had one bed, one cupboard, one shelf and one table along with DJ's belongings which were being packed.

"Whatever. But I'm going with you." DJ smiled as he shut his own trunk and gave his barn owl, Garth, some owl treats before letting him out of his cage. The bird flew towards Hedwig for a second and then the owls took off into the night.

Harry dropped his head on the window ledge, breathing slowly. He had spent more than half-an-hour trying to convince DJ to stay in the orphanage. After a while, he realized that no one would actually like to spend time in such a place and gave up.

"We'll just stay at the Leaky Cauldron. Tom the barman, will be happy to have the famous Potters stay at his pub." DJ said, shrugging.

"That was my first thought." Harry mumbled.

DJ grinned and nudged Harry's shoulder, "See? Great minds think alike. Come on."

Harry took his stuff and sneaked out the area while DJ gave a letter to the head of the place and the security guard. It took a while but when he was finally out, DJ cried, "Freedom!"

"Honestly!" Harry muttered rolling his eyes.

DJ looked up at him and then beamed, "You're wearing my present!"

Harry looked at the black jacket and nodded. "Yeah. It's a good one. Thanks."

"Welcome and here we go! Is Bolt getting us there?"

Harry stopped short at that. Bolt was still conked out from coming here. He wasn't sure whether she could take them to the inn.

"I'm not sure. But I've got another idea. I just hope it works."

Harry took out his wand. Gripping it firmly he held out his right hand.

There was a loud 'bang!' DJ jumped back as a large indigo bus appeared literally out of thin air on the road in front of him.

"What the –"

A tall and thin man with stingy black hair and a case of acne stepped out. He looked to be around nineteen and he wore a blue cap that said, 'Knight Bus Conductor.'

Harry ignored the introductory statement given and took both the trunks easily, hoping on board. DJ climbed in after him staring in awe. There were many beds bolted to the ground, along the windows. One person was already asleep on a bed in the corner and there was a chandelier hung from the top of the tall bus. By the way, it was a triple decker bus.

"I've never heard of a wizard bus!" The younger boy exclaimed.

"Muggleborns?" The conductor asked suddenly. Harry narrowed his eyes.

"You've got a problem with that?"

"Oh no. It's just a different speech for muggleborns. Wait a sec'." He dug into his worn jacket and came up with a slightly older piece of paper and started reciting in a professional voice.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus. Emergency or daily transportation for any witch or wizard at any time of convenience. If you have a bus pass, please show it to the conductor; if not, please purchase a ticket which gives you the right to travel to your destination with minutes. Extra coins can give you hot chocolate and a tooth brush of your colour choice. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be you're conductor for this evening."

DJ stared at him before asking for the hot chocolate.

They bought two tickets to Diagon Alley and before Harry could even pocket his change, Stan said, "Let's go."

"Yeah! Yeah! Take 'er away, Ernie!" A voice squeaked out from the front. Harry turned around to see a shrunken head swinging by the driver like the chandelier above them. It's hair was strangely matted in a stiff thin braid and its teeth were yellowish black.

The driver, Ernie, released the brake and the bus took off with a bang. The cup of hot chocolate slipped from DJ's hand into Harry's. Both boys fell into the bed behind them as the bus almost flew on the road at an incredible speed.

"Does he even know how to drive?!" DJ yelled over the noise. Harry handed him back his cup and stared at Ernie who looked as though he hadn't mastered the control of the driving wheel.

"I'm not so sure!" Harry shouted.

After a few minutes the sensation felt better and Harry almost relaxed as the bus jerked around running straight into lamp posts and buildings which seemed to jump out of the way.

Stan, who seemed to be bored by the bus started reading the Daily Prophet.

"Who's that?" DJ asked suddenly looking a large photo of a man on the headlines of the paper. Stan looked up at him and frowned staring at the paper.

The explanation made both boys quiet for nearly ten minutes.

Sirius Black was very familiar to Harry. Not as an Azkaban convict but as a family friend.

There was a strange ache in his heart as he stared at the photo of the prisoner screaming noiselessly into the camera. A slow rage built up in him.

"Ernie! A little ol' lady at twelve O' clock!" The shrunken head shrieked. Everyone looked out on the empty street where an old lady with a crutch stand was very slowly crossing the street.

"Slow down!" DJ shouted.

It was a sudden brake. The bus stopped so unexpectedly that Harry just caught the nearest pole with one hand and DJ's jacket collar in the other as they nearly avoided flying right into the window.

The pole broke though.

Harry blinked at the bottom half of the pole which was in his hand, loosely connected to the floor while the top dangled precariously.

Stan gave them a curious look before waving his wand at the halved poles to fix them.

"Ten, nine, eight…" The severed head counted excitedly as the old lady walked slowly to cross the street.

DJ's eyes widened and he stared at Harry in alarm.

"…five, four, three, two and a half, two, one and three quarters… YES!"

The bus threw itself forwards and DJ fell backwards on Harry.

"Get off!" Harry groaned.

"Help me, Dad." DJ muttered and his skin turned to marble. Harry did the same, feeling the strength flow into his body as though freezing up his entire form.

"At least we won't break if the bus brakes." DJ said tapping his finger on his wrist. The metallic clanging sound made Stan's eyes grow big.

"No way! You kids aren't –"

"Nearly there, nearly there." The head chanted and Harry turned to see the board of The Leaky Cauldron.

Ernie pressed slammed the brakes again, but this time, with nothing to hold on to, both Harry and DJ flew through the window ahead, breaking it.

They fell forwards right into the back window of a silver Nissan car straight on the back seat, glass shards from the bus and the car raining on them.

The car started beeping wildly and Harry cracked one eye open. The glass shards hadn't pierced them or hurt them in anyway. He was sure of this when he saw DJ grin.

"Look at that. We fell through a window, again!"

"Déjà vu." Harry agreed, brushing off the glass as Stan and Ernie were shouting for Tom to help them out before the muggles came out.

* * *

**A little fun when Ron and Hermione come into the story. And don't worry. There's more about Percy in The Lost. Stay tuned till the next update!**

**Cabba.**


	3. When it comes

**Tiny writer's block! Sorry! Thank you for all the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series.**

**Words – 4056**

**Listening to – 'Noots' by Sum 41**

* * *

It took Harry a long while to fall asleep. It was already two in the morning and he could hear DJ's breathing in the second bed. Bolt was deeply in and so were both Hedwig and Garth. The silence was broken by the whimpers made by Harry's birthday present Hagrid had given him.

It hadn't been too strange to see the Minister of Magic waiting for them in the Pub. Apparently, Harry's display of Accidental magic was of no concern to the Ministry in light of recent events.

Sirius Black. The name and face kept invading his mind. He had seen the photos of the man standing so close to his father as though the two were brothers. But apparently he turned out to be a supporter of the dark side.

Harry frowned and silently got up from his bed. Tom, the barman, had graciously given the two of them a room with two single beds and free food order service. DJ had been really hungry and had eaten even Harry's dinner after the latter said that he didn't have his appetite.

He'd lost it when he remembered how close Black was to the Potter family.

Harry gave a glance towards DJ, slumbering in his bed, before walking to his trunk. DJ had the Potter Family book for the summer as per the agreement. Shooting another precautionary glance at DJ he opened the trunk and lifted a pair jeans shorts to take out the book.

The grand book felt as golden as it was the first time Harry had seen it. He gave the hard cover a long look before flipping over the pages to find the Black families.

It took about 27 seconds. Blacks were more related to the Dumbledores than the Potters, but he found a Regulus Black. He went back a page to see Sirius Black.

Same age as his parents. Came from a Slytherin family. Sorted in Gryffindor. Black sheep of the family.

"Well, not anymore." Harry whispered, glaring at the face of the convict.

* * *

DJ gave a yawn and rubbed his eyes. The curtains weren't drawn properly and sun light, made the room too bright for DJ to sleep anymore. He gave a sigh and blinked his eyes open. The small hotel room looked to be in a state of renovation with the moldy cupboard and table, the slightly moth eaten carpet, the plain seemingly temporary beds with no curtains. DJ's smiled blankly at the old ceiling before looking over at Harry who had his back to him and was breathing deeply.

DJ stretched and got up, rubbing his hair.

Toothpaste, he thought idly, searching around his bag, but before he could find them, he was distracted by a slight growling sound from the table. He turned his head to spot a green object quivering and moving. DJ dropped the bag to grab at the large thing.

It was a book. A large green book. There was a black belt binding the book, tying it tightly.

"The Monster Book of Monsters?" DJ questioned out loud before immediately watching Harry shuffle a little, but not get up.

DJ gave the book another look and decided to remove the belt. Honestly, it wasn't like there could be another dangerous book, could there?

Dropping the belt, carefully, he took a look at the page end. There were teeth? How strange…

The book leaped forwards to give DJ's face a loud 'snap'!

"Yikes!" DJ yelled jumping back and letting go of the book. It fell with a 'thud' and eyes opened up on the front. Its gaze landed on him and DJ stumbled back. It advanced forwards snapping dangerously as though its diet was human beings.

DJ jumped backwards onto his bed and the book went directly underneath it leaving a wide trail of paper bits.

He immediately crouched down and slowly poked his head to see where the book was. He spotted it. Like a dark animal waiting for its next prey close to the wall in the darkness. It lunged forwards at DJ's upside down head which he pulled back quickly to avoid being in the Headless Hunt with the other ghost horsemen.

The book turned left and then right searching for him before going back into its sanctuary.

DJ's shoulders slumped for a moment before calling on his father's Core. As the strength took over, DJ reached down and let his fingers dangle in sight of the monster book.

As expected, it jumped onto the fingers trying to bite it. It didn't do any damage though. DJ tried not to chuckle at the slight ticklish feeling from the ferocious biting. He grabbed the book by the binder and jumped off the bed to get to the belt and tie it. The book put up a good fight with his iron hands but lost. In the process of being covered with paper pieces, DJ finally got the belt tied around it.

He let out a sigh of breathe and turned around only to stop.

Harry was staring at him with a confused expression.

The two stared at each other before Harry blinked once and squinted his eyes. He then reached back to get his glasses from the bedside stand behind him. DJ immediately kept the book on the table and grabbed a towel from his bag as Harry turned back to face him.

Harry looked at him through his glasses now. He frowned as though not understanding the situation.

"Good morning!" DJ chirped.

Harry nodded slowly, "Yeah. Yeah, good morning. What were you exactly doing?"

DJ bit the inside of his cheek trying not to laugh as he thought about what happened. He looked around at the paper covered floor and said, "Pillow fight?"

Harry nodded slowly as if humouring DJ. "They aren't feathers, though." He pointed out.

"Yeah. Strange isn't it? The pillows happened to be stuffed with paper! So weird! I'll get going now. We have to go shopping!"

* * *

Diagon Alley was not as crowded as it usually was close to the opening of the school. But there still was a fair amount of people lingering around and buying school and non-scholastic requirements. Harry and DJ went to donate the Lockhart copies ("Why can't we burn them, Harry?")

"Wait! Garth's been pestering me for softer tie-on-tag for his talons." DJ said pulling Harry into Menagerie. The dark place seemed the same and Bolt poked her nose out before jumping out of Harry's pocket. The owner of the shop turned to their direction and her eyes rested on Harry's familiar.

"Oh sweet Morgana! I know this little puppy!" The blond woman squealed as she leaned down to smile at Bolt. Bolt looked a little confused before Harry silently relayed on the story of the first time Harry met her. Then Bolt turned towards the woman and licked her cheek.

The woman squealed again and picked her up. "Oh my dear little Delia's child! How are you?"

Bolt gave her a blink and caused her to go into higher squeals. It reminded Harry of Aunt Petunia's unpleasant shrieks.

It was by far the best summers Harry had had in a long time. DJ and he would have three full meals a day at Tom's pub, loiter around all the shops where the owners were always glad to have them and also spend a few hours finishing their homework while having free ice creams with Florean Fortesque, who ran the ice cream parlour. They discovered a new racing broom, the Firebolt in the Quidditch for Fanatics and returned everyday to look at it.

"Imagine how I could fly with that!" DJ said in awe, his nose pressed against the glass window. Harry took one look at the sign on the handle and pointed it out to him, "Look at that. 'Price on request.'"

"Yeah, but it's not like we can't afford it…" DJ's tone of hope could be deciphered easily.

"I just got you that SilverStar!"

"Yeah… could you get the Safety Kit too?"

"Danny…"

"Yeah, yeah, just saying. Let's get in there."

DJ now went in to Flourish and Botts to look in for Professor Vindiculus's copies in Amateur Revenge Antics. He had developed a strange vendetta against a Slytherin named Harper.**  
**

As he lingered around the Counter-curse section, Harry walked around listening to the assistant of the shop rant on about the missing Invisible Books of Invisibility and the horde of Monster Books of Monsters which tried to rip each other apart. Harry listened, slightly amused by how entertaining Diagon Alley could be even when Hogwarts hogged most of the attention for 'fun'.

The books were flying from one shelf to another adjusting themselves according to topics and alphabetical order depending on the timing of the day. Harry watched the Astronomy books line up next to the Divination and stopped to watch the picture of an animated black dog walk slowly around a cloudy sky. It gave a haunted setting to the book – Omens - Revisited.

But what made Harry stare at the dog in disbelief was the fact that it looked exactly like the one he had seen at Magnolia Crescent Park. There had been nothing 'off' about it at the moment. He had seemed completely docile with Harry.

Bolt appeared on Harry's shoulders and gave the dog a look before saying, "_Okay, the dog we saw was not some omen. I mean, you touched it, right? It wasn't an illusion or something. Besides, this divination thing seems bogus to me_."

Harry frowned before removing the book from the shelf. He gave the back a glance before deciding to purchase it.

* * *

"Why do you think he wanted to quit his job? He seemed to do it well." DJ said it absentmindedly, chewing on the head of a Chocolate Frog. Harry swallowed his Sugarless Vipers and answered, "Probably because the books gave him a headache."

"Ha! I can imagine Hermione having something to say to that."

"Well, the assistant at Flourish and Botts feels that the books at the shop are too alive. He prefers immobile things."

"Hmm. Well, last day tomorrow. You think the Weasleys can make it?" DJ asked as they entered the Leaky Cauldron. Harry acknowledged Tom's excited wave from behind his desk.

"I hope so. Hermione's checking in before noon. She might come early if her flight isn't delayed."

"She's flying." DJ said smiling brightly. Harry rolled his eyes. DJ had had too much sugar. He was becoming too much like Percy.

* * *

"I swear, Harry! They're here! Come on, It's been so boring!"

"Spending time with the most famous wizard in the world for a month in Diagon Alley was boring to you?" Harry asked in a fake-astounded voice.

DJ shot him an amused look. He ran a hand through his hair and said, "I'm going down to check. It's already eight and I'm starving."

"You go ahead. I'll get my trunk sorted out. Bolt just had a fit about my socks and scarves." Harry said shooting the smug dog a glare.

DJ nodded and left the room as Harry started picking up his scattered stuff from the floor.

"Really Bolt, are you going through a rebellious phase like a child?"

Bolt gave him a bark before settling down on his jacket. Harry shook his head as he continued to pack his stuff.

"Honestly. I think there's something up with you. You keep feeling weird and –"

"_May be it's my animal instincts taking over to make me chase rats around the place_." She suggested.

"If you do that, I'm … I'll… ground you!" Harry managed to retort.

Bolt stared at him before letting out something that sounded like an uncontrollable laugh. Harry sighed and shut his trunk.

"Let's go." He mumbled grabbing his jacket. Bolt jumped up his shoulders still laughing.

She really was feeling different in his head. May be it's because she had just turned two. Or maybe it's because of Harry. Whatever the case, he had to deal with a growing up familiar. It was different from an already developed familiar like Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, who was probably centuries old, connecting from one wizard to another.

Harry just locked the door to his room, when a snarl was heard from the bright corridor.

A rat passed by - which Harry instantly recognized as Scabbers - at a pace suggesting that his life might have been in danger.

It was. Scabbers was being chased by a large orange cat which kept mewling as though thinking, '_Breakfast!_'

Suddenly, Bolt perked her head up, completely alert. And then, she grew in size, becoming nearly as large as the black dog Harry had seen on his birthday. She leaped off him and landed gracefully before taking off after the cat.

"Bolt!" Harry yelled, running after her.

The Leaky Cauldron might have been small in breadth, but the building was quite high. Harry and DJ stayed currently on the fourth floor of the inn and there were multiple corridors and two staircases. As the rat ran from one floor to a corridor to a window ledge, to another floor and corridor, the rat's owner, the cat, the cat's owner, the dog and the dog's person ran behind, yelling through the inn for their respective animals to stop.

"Crookshanks! No!"

"Scabbers, hold on!"

"Bolt, you better stop, or else!"

There was a snarl from below and Crookshanks almost grinned as his paw came close to the rat's tail. Scabbers squeaked unintelligibly, wary of the closeness. Bolt barked as her shadow enclosed the cat who looked up to snarl again.

The three animals ran into three thirteen year olds.

"_Ow!_"

"OUCH!"

"**Get off!"**

"Meow!"

"Woof!"

"Sqrrrr!"

Hermione clutched her head. It had banged against Ron's chin. Ron grimaced as the pain in his shins was sharp, while Harry groaned. Everyone had fallen on him.

"Get off." He repeated.

Ron lunged for Scabbers as the rat tried to scramble away. Hermione hugged the cat reprimanding it softly. Harry sat up and rubbed his head. He gave Bolt a glare.

"_Oops?"_ Bolt said, shrinking back in size. Her eyes were trained on the orange cat who hissed at her.

"Harry!"Hermione exclaimed, finally looking at him. Harry nodded gingerly and picked up Bolt to place her on his shoulders.

"Hey good buddy! Nice running into you." Ron snickered.

* * *

"So, Hermione. Why did you get the tiger?" Ron asked swallowing his bacon. The entire Weasley family were having breakfast along with Hermione, her parents, Harry and DJ. They had come nearly at the same time, but at the moment, Hermione's new pet, Crookshanks - a large orange part-kneazle, part-cat – had sniffed Scabbers residing in Ron's pocket. The cat and mouse chase had begun which included Bolt in the middle.

Hermione gave Ron a glare, "He's not a tiger. Just a growing boy, aren't you, Crookshanks?"

She rubbed the cat behind his neck and he purred in delight. Bolt kept looking at him as though he was her next meal.

"How were your trips?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione and they launched into their experiences together. Harry was able to get the gist of it.

"Awesome! Bill took us to visit a lotta tombs –"

"Wonderful. There were so many brilliant landmarks –"

" – double headed skeletons, Harry, those curses –"

" – the artistry of the chapels –"

" – the food –"

" – their wealth was utilized so well –"

" – bloody treasures –"

" – French Wizards –"

" – caviar –"

" – history dates it back to B. C. –"

"Brilliant!" They finished together. Harry nodded slowly.

"Okay. Next time, I'm going abroad and you're staying here."

They chuckled at his comment. Harry looked around the large table. DJ was next to Fred and George, looking at the clipping of the Daily Prophet which had their photo in it. Ginny was simply had porridge and kept to herself. The prominent thing about her was that her hair was cropped like a boy's. A little wild, but it was just below her ears.

Percy Weasley was talking with his father and Dr. Granger about his plans for the Ministry after the NEWTS while Mrs. Weasley and Hermione's mother left the table together.

"You know…" Hermione began slowly, lowering her voice to include only Harry and Ron. They leaned in.

"While in Paris, I found out more about wizards. There's this school in South France, Beauxbatons. As I was reading about it –"

"In France?" Harry looked up, frowning.

"The Eiffel Tower has this area specifically for magic. The moment I went in there, I knew. You wouldn't believe the size of the library!"

"Oh, I believe you." Ron said seriously.

Hermione tilted her head towards him and said, "So, I found some books that said that there are many people who think the origin of magic was sudden."

Harry blinked and Ron shrugged, "So?"

"She's means that according to these people, magic just sprung up from a dot." Harry explained.

Hermione nodded earnestly, "Yes! There wasn't much information about the commencement, it was more about kingdoms and what-not. But I think that if magic did just pop out of the ground one day, something must have changed in the course of history for it to happen."

Ron grinned. "Of course you'd bury yourself in myths. Magic evolved like the planet. It didn't apparate into existence. You should have been to Egypt. Even Scabbers enjoyed himself in the beginning before the heat got to him."

"You know Egyptians used to worship cats."

"Yeah, along with the dung beetle!"

"Hermione could you get to the point?" Harry cut in.

"Oh. Yes, what I feel is that… Harry's right." She let out a deep breath as she said this.

Ron waved his hand to continue. Harry commented, "Of course I am. What about in particular?"

"You talked about worlds. There might be another." She said in barely concealed excitement.

"Worlds." Ron repeated. Harry, however, stared at Hermione. It was obvious that she had given this some thought, but he hadn't expected her to side with him. He'd only been wondering what Sally Jackson had hinted at him. He wished she had been clearer.

"Yes, Ron. Don't you remember about Harry's… friend." She said it slowly as though she had been about to say another word. Probably 'brother.'

"How did you arrive at this conclusion?"

Hermione looked motivated by the question, but before she could say anything else, their group had called on them to take a tour of Diagon Alley.

* * *

The day was not boring as it had been two months since they saw each other, but Hermione couldn't discuss what she found out in France due to lack of privacy. Harry could almost see her mind barely keeping herself from shouting out her new found knowledge but she somehow contained herself. Whatever she had had found, must be important.

It's about Percy. Of course it is. Harry cursed himself. He was getting his hopes up. If she didn't have enough information, Harry would go to Paris and get the data himself. Whatever there was to understand Percy's secret, he would do it.

The next day, Harry's head was reeling with the added news of having a serial killer after him. May be he shouldn't have eavesdropped…

"You look horrible."

Harry stopped walking and turned to see Ginny staring blankly at him. He shook his head mentally to remember what he was doing at the moment and got it. He was helping Ron get a missing jumper that had somehow ended up in Fred's trunk.

"Thanks." Harry said slowly before frowning. Could she read his expressions that clearly?

Ginny shrugged and walked passed him. He stared at her short hair and decided that it had looked better long.

After a slightly hurried breakfast, everyone left by floo to Platform Nine and three quarters. The moment Harry appeared at the station covered in soot, he saw the bright red and black engine of the Hogwarts Express billowing out white smoke. He instantly felt a little better. Until DJ flooed in and knocked him to the ground.

Hedwig was let out early and with not even a minute to spare, all eight children soon piled in the train with the rest of the students. After final goodbyes, they left the station.

It felt a little surreal. As though it was Harry's first ride again. Something big was coming his way.

With nerves affecting his thinking, he barely heard Percy Weasley's orders of clearing the corridors.

"Percy, do us a favour and just go in the Bighead Boy's compartment!" George whispered. Ron rolled his eyes and pulled Harry and Hermione along. He had long since sent Ginny away who had left with a glare. DJ had followed her claiming to search for Colin.

"That was rude." Hermione said with a small glare. Ron shrugged.

As it was, they found the only carriage left with enough space for them which coincidentally was occupied by Neville and another man who seemed to be in his mid-thirties. The latter was slumbering against the window, his slightly worn clothes covered by a rather old brown robe.

"You're kidding!" Ron exclaimed and Hermione immediately shushed him, her eyes darting towards the man still asleep.

"You're serious? Sirius Black's escaped Azkaban to come after you?!" Neville said in a hushed voice, his eyes wide and nervous.

Harry gave raised his hands in a 'what can you do?' gesture. He avoided Hermione's slightly panicked look and looked out the window, where the scenery seemed to be slowing down. Hermione gave him a look before saying, "But they'll catch Black, won't they? I mean, everyone's looking for him."

"Oh sure." Ron shrugged and then gave a slightly inaudible gulp, "It's just that nobody's broken out of Azkaban before. He's a nasty soulless psychopath."

Harry frowned, "Thanks, Ron."

Suddenly, the door slid open and DJ and a blond girl, Luna the Ravenclaw, came in gasping as though they had run along the length of the train.

"DJ? What –" Hermione began but DJ cut her off.

"Something's gonna happen!" He said, his voice, out of breath.

"What?" Harry asked standing up and looking at Luna who hadn't moved her large blue-eyed gaze from his face.

"_Disappear not the pain, until moveth the train_." Luna said, her dreamy like voice causing the words to flow in a musical tone.

The train stopped at that moment. DJ and Luna fell in Harry's direction and he stumbled backwards and nearly fell on Crookshanks. Bolt suddenly appeared next to his leg, growling at the window. The sun had gone behind the clouds that strangely had appeared just a few seconds ago. The sky turned dark and grey. The coldness from the slight rain started to go deeper into Harry's skin.

Luna straightened just as the light went out and plunged them into darkness.

"What the bloody hell?!"

"Ronald! That's my foot!"

"Danny, get off!"

"_Darkness followed by pain…"_

"Luna said that something's gonna –"

The door slid open, but this time, Harry felt warmth wash over them. The slight heat grew and Ginny's voice came beside him, "Ron?"

"Ginny? What's going on?"

"It's _them_."

The way Ginny said the two words made Harry's heart start thudding almost painfully. He could hear the fear in her words.

Ron cursed loudly and Hermione yelled, "Ron, not now!"

"Wait, what're you talking about?!" Harry asked, raising his voice. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could see the silhouettes move around, shifting. He heard Ginny sit next to Ron by the window and saw Luna join her while DJ sat in between Neville and himself. The sky turned even darker and though it was nearly six in the evening, it looked as though the sun was on the other side of the world.

There was a sudden hissing as Crookshanks ran towards Hermione blindly and Bolt let out a howl. She scrambled into Harry's arms and started shivering.

She was the only one. The cold started to penetrate the skin as though trying to physically reach his bones. Harry took in a breath trying to get warmth, but the air had already turned frigid.

"What's happening?" DJ asked.

Harry could feel his breath like fog on a winter night.

And then, it came.

* * *

**Slight cliffhanger. But I'm going to skip a few things and get to the main part. Stay tuned!**

**Cabba.**


	4. Harry's 'Family'

**I'm so sorry! It took a long while, but I've been doing this in installments and had to go through it a lot. I think it's good. If there are any mistakes, excuse me, I've been really busy. But I'm not letting go of the Pumki series; it bothers me in my head whenever I ignore it too long!**

**Check out my one shot – The Gifts. I've also put a new poll about Harry's and Percy's meeting. Vote!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Harry Potter**_**, **_**Percy Jackson and the Olympians **_**or**_** Twilight**_**. They are fictional works which belong to the respective authors.**

**Listening to – New Divide – Linkin Park**

**Words – 3517**

* * *

Harry gritted his teeth as he half-sprinted towards the Great Hall for breakfast. He was still feeling the slight after-effects of the dementors from the incident yesterday. His cold skin had almost stopped the blood flow to his brain and he was pretty sure that he could have gone into a limbotic stage if they hadn't reached him to Madam Pomfrey.

Harry's mind kept flashing back to the dark events. Every part of his body had frozen up when the hooded inhuman creature glided in their booth. Numbly, Harry had heard dull screaming from somewhere ringing everywhere in his head.

_A high voice laughing…_

_A woman screaming…_

_Nails scratching the floor…_

It was as though something had snapped. The locked up memories kept pouring over and his vision turned from black to red as he saw the creature's skeletal hand extending towards him.

Harry's own hand had shot out and he grasped the bone wrist of the dementor, bending it backwards to snap.

He remembered Hermione screaming. He remembered Ginny collapsing. He remembered Danny gasping and he remembered the unknown man suddenly getting up and pointing his wand at the dementor.

Harry hadn't passed out but he could tell that he had gone into a state of partial shock. He recalled the snippets of his unresponsive self being taken to Hospital wing, thus missing the sorting and the feast.

Stupid dementors…

"Harry! Slow down!" Ron panted as he just caught up with the bespectacled boy by the entrance hall. Hermione reached them a few seconds later, out of breath. Harry hadn't realized that he was running.

"Don't say a word." Harry warned the both of them. Hermione had to bite her lip to physically stop herself.

With great trepidation, Harry marched into the Great Hall, grabbed a sandwich from the closest plate on the Gryffindor table and walked out again, doing his best to ignore all the stares.

"Potter!" A voice barked and Harry groaned. McGonagall did not seem happy with his behavior at all. He turned to see her walk towards him, her nostrils flared. Her lips were pressed together and she gave him a strong look before handing out a slip of parchment.

Harry took it carefully and slowly, trying to feel if there was something off with it. The parchment felt a little too thick.

"Read it." McGonagall said, in slight exasperation. Her eyes seemed a bit more amused as she watched his wary reactions to her presence.

Harry's eyes roamed over the page and frowned. The title was that it was the third year timetable. But the table was empty.

"Third years are supposed to discuss the subjects they're taking with their Head of the House, Potter. Or have you forgotten?"

Harry tried not to glare at her. "I have to decide now?"

"Classes start today, Potter."

"Oh." Harry quickly ran over the topics he had found interesting in all the options open. DADA, Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes and Astronomy.

"Ancient Runes, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Transfiguration." Harry recited off.

McGonagall gave sigh, "Potter, did you read the pamphlet given to you last year? It had all the regulations necessary for your new term. You need a minimum of nine subjects. Choose two more."

Harry blinked, "I knew that paper was important! Bolt wouldn't listen to me!"

"Where's the pamphlet?"

"My dog ate it."

McGonagall was far from amused. She looked at him from over her glasses and Harry immediately skimmed over, in his head, the different books he had read in the summer before thinking about the one he had bought from Diagon Alley – Omens - Revisted. Hermione's words from the Pub of the Leaky cauldron came to his mind and he decided on Divination and History of Magic.

First class was Potions. Nice; start the week with a bang.

Literally.

Neville's cauldron somehow had turned the potion orange instead of blue. The cauldron started spitting sparks and everyone just managed to escape the dungeon before it exploded.

Snape's face was as furious as an angered dragon.

All through the day, Harry had avoided the topic of the dementor disaster on the train. Ron and Hermione gave up after Harry had started humming 'Hoggy Warty Hogwarts' during lunch.

"Alright, Harry! I just want to talk about what I found on my trip!" Hermione called out and to her relief, Harry stopped running. Ron walked into him and stumbled.

"About the origin of magic? Hermione, that was really long ago. I don't think it matters."

"Well, I think there's something interesting in there. I believe that Wizards and Witches emerged into existence with no true history. It was not a slow build up of powers."

"A bunch of people just got magic. The end." Ron mumbled, sarcastically and leaned against the wall to watch Harry and Hermione debate about the point.

"Yes, that does not add up." Harry said seriously as though Ron had commented wisely. Hermione shook her head and said, "People have assumed that for centuries. Not many have really studied about it! I kept thinking this during my entire summer –"

"Nice way to spend your holidays, Hermione." Ron interjected. Hermione folded her hands and glared at the two boys.

"Something is missing. I kept going over different scenarios and there were so many books that I could borrow from the library. France is amazing. The information is much better stocked than Scotland. But I keep getting this feeling that we've all missed something!"

Harry sighed, "Okay. Something's missing. What do you propose to do about the missing information that you suspect to be missing for more than a millennia and a half, which you don't have knowledge of due to the fact that it's missing?"

Ron blinked. "What?"

"Hey, Harry! Jus' a sec!" A voice cried out from behind and the trio turned around to see second years Colin Creevey and DJ run up to them. Colin was a little taller than DJ, his blonde hair a contrast to DJ's black mess. They had similar grins on their faces and Colin held out the package he had been holding.

"I finished them all! I wanted to give them to you on your birthday, but I didn't know your muggle address and it was too heavy to go by single owl service. Hope you like them!"

Harry immediately guessed what the package was and felt appreciative. He shook the box a little and heard the small thump of a bunch of thick papers bouncing about.

"I put them in rubber bands. They're cool." Colin said, his face tuning a little pink, but the grin didn't disappear.

"Thanks, Colin. I hope it wasn't too much." Harry said gratefully. His voice sounded a little odd after talking with Hermione in exasperation and slight sarcasm. Colin grinned wider and said, "Yeah, so… I'll see you later?"

"Sure." Harry said nodding and then turning on his heel, he left the hallway, clutching the package tight to his chest.

* * *

There was Transfiguration, Charms, an argument between Ron and Hermione about Scabbers and Crookshanks, lunch, Bolt's hissy fit on sharing Harry's pumpkin juice with Hedwig, Ginny's scorching glare with anyone she met excluding the teachers and her brothers(which confused Harry as she avoided his gaze entirely), Luna Lovegood's spiritual message on Wrackspurts and finally Divination.

Hermione seemed a little wary as she climbed up the steps to the Divination classroom. Upon entering the room, Ron said, "What exactly have we got ourselves into?"

The entire room had a mild mist floating right at shoulder level. It originated from the fireplace which gave of a mysterious brownish pink smoke which made Harry's senses to dull a little. He immediately blinked hard and pressed his thumb and middle finger to his temples.

Other year mates from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw slowly came from the floor-door and took in the surroundings with mixtures of surprise, amusement and caution.

"Atleast the seats are nice." Ron said, settling himself around one of the round tables. Harry gave a frown to the cushion placed on the chair and yanked it off before sitting down.

He ignored Hermione's disapproving look and took out his book. Soon, every seat was filled and the class started.

* * *

"Of course I'm gonna die someday! What kind of prediction was that?" Harry asked in exasperation after racing out the classroom. Trelawney had definitely struck him as a bit too odd.

Hermione had a glower on her face. "She can't tell students they're going to die! Want kind of trick is that?"

Ron just gave a yawn.

Harry raised an eyebrow towards Hermione and shook his head, "She definitely has the aura for something. Just wait till I tell her I saw a vision of someone."

"You're going to tell her that?" Ron asked, suddenly alert.

"Of course not!"

"But you just said that you would!"

"It was a joke."

Ron and Hermione stared at Harry as though he had announced to join ballet. Harry took in their shocked expressions for a few seconds and pursed his lips. They didn't understand his joke. It wasn't that bad, was it?

"Harry… you should know something. You don't really have that face to joke about things." Ron said slowly. Harry frowned at that and then murmured, "I guess Percy was telling the truth."

"What?"

Harry pressed his lips together. See? This was what happened if he didn't sleep properly. He kept slipping words.

"Harry?" Hermione said softly. "I'd like to hear more about your friend. Percy's obviously very important to you."

Harry frowned at her. Was she tricking him or something? Why did he want to know about Percy? Why would she even want to trick Harry? She was just asking. Dammit! He had to get some shut-eye tonight!

"Why?" He asked ignoring his stomach twisting at the thought of actually talking about Percy and Sally. He hadn't really mentioned about them for…

Had it actually been five years?!

Harry blinked in slight shock and almost missed Hermione's slightly hurt expression. He sighed. He didn't want to blab about them. It wasn't as though talking about them would make them suddenly appear in the courtyard outside the Entrance Hall, did it?

Couldn't hurt to try, right?

* * *

The three walked in silence towards the lake. The sky was bright and the sunlight felt wonderful against his coldness. The effect the dementors had on the grounds during the nights had reduced by afternoon, but it still made Harry's skin crawl. Due to the possibility of Sirius Black trying break into Hogwarts to reach Harry, the Minister had ordered a portion of the dementors that were supposed guard the wizard prison Azkaban, to stay just outside the barrier of Hogwarts wards during the daytime.

At night, they had permission to roam across the large grounds and the Forbidden Forest with the exception of the Quidditch field and the Black Lake. Harry had to make sure that he wasn't connected to his Nature Core during night, or else he'd turn into a Pottsicle. (Bolt's words.)

Right now, the sun had warmed up the surroundings and Harry tentatively reached out to the plants which shivered before responding. They were a little weak but had recovered fast.

Ron gave a sigh as he walked right onto the surface of the lake and sat without breaking the calmness or causing any ripples. Hermione simply sat cross-legged on the wet earth, not minding the dampness. She started tracing on the mud waiting patiently for Harry to start on the story he had promised.

Harry gave them a second's look before leaning against the Oak tree trunk and dropping his bag on the ground. He frowned at nothing in particular trying to find out where to start.

A few minutes of silence passed before Ron looked up and asked, "So… it's a coincidence or what that you know two people named Percy?"

Harry bit the inside of his cheek, wondering if that was a slightly poor attempt of Ron's to break the ice.

"There's no such thing as a coincidence." Harry responded. Ron nodded thoughtfully at that. He shared a look with Hermione and she turned towards Harry.

"So, how long have you actually known him?" She asked carefully. Harry sucked in his cheeks for a second before running his hand through his hair.

"Seven years come March."

Ron and Hermione nodded waiting for him to continue. Harry looked towards them and he could see them look interested in hearing more about Percy.

Harry knew that they only wanted to know about him because of his affinity with water. He had never asked anything about Hermione's muggle friends.

"I met Percy and his mother when I was one and a half. Percy was the same age and that was the main reason why his mother liked me. She said I reminded her of him."

Harry glanced at the ground before sitting down. "The Dursleys never really liked me. They didn't care and Percy's mother realized was different from the normal people like her son."

"Was she a witch?" Hermione asked curiously. Ron leaned in too.

"No. She was muggle. But there was something about her that just made everyone like her. Well everyone except the Dursleys and her husband. She had married this weird creature called Gabe Ugliano. They hated each other but what confused me was they never separated. She said that there was a reason for marrying him but she never told me."

Harry realized that he was going a little in depth of Sally's life and backtracked. "But he wasn't Percy's father. And it was clear that Percy's father wasn't normal, though I never met him."

"He was a wizard. Isn't that obvious?" Ron asked.

"No. Ron, that's just it. Percy is not a wizard and I'm sure his father isn't one. It's something else."

"Another world." Hermione nodded. Harry gave a half shrug at that.

"Her name's Sally Jackson. Though she was normal, she never complained about any of my accidental magic. Strange things happened around Percy too. She never got angry with us. Unless we destroyed a building. But even then she never stayed mad for too long."

Ron's eyes widened. "_Have_ you ever destroyed a building?!"

Harry cocked his head, "Well, she used to say that Percy and I was a recipe for disaster. She wasn't far from the truth. I remember when the computer exploded in the town library, when the restaurant burned down –"

"Restaurant?!" Hermione exclaimed. Her face had an almost comical look of shock like Ron's. Harry gave raised his eyebrows.

"You're worried about the restaurant and not the fact that the three of us were in it?"

Hermione blushed. "Sorry. Were you three alright?"

"We were fine. She bought us ice cream after dinner."

"Huh. I like her already." Ron said grinning at Harry, knowing that ice cream after dinner was the only acceptable mode of eating.

Harry felt a little calmer at that and continued, "Yeah, so she understood that the Dursleys didn't like me at all and somehow started to take care of me. She was like a surrogate mother, you could say. I started to call her that too. Didn't matter that she wasn't related but she and Percy were more of a family to me than anyone else."

"Not to sound too rude, but Harry, did she like you after you showed her your magic or saw some flux or –"

Harry shook his head and looked above at the leaves, "No, I don't remember. All I knew was that she didn't hate me. That was a big thing for me. But I don't think she's collecting magical boys, if that's what you feel. She has her secrets, but she never harmed me. If anything it was Percy and I who put her life in danger every second. She could've stayed away from me or dumped him in an orphanage but she didn't and for that I can never go against her."

Hermione gave a smile. Ron stared at his reflection in the water before asking, "So, when you talked about your 'Mum', you mean this woman, Sally Jackson and not your birth mother, Lily Potter?"

Hermione looked as though she was about to scold Ron but Harry quickly confirmed it.

"Right. You're sure that she was completely muggle? Could she do some strange things that you didn't understand or didn't realize?"

Harry frowned. He was pretty sure that she was normal, except for the fact she had the same significant changes as Harry and Percy. She could fight very well too. She looked younger than her age. But he hadn't really seen anything out of the ordinary compared to Percy and himself.

But she did have a bracelet with a dagger. That necessarily did not mean she could have powers of the beyond or stuff like that, right?

"I'm not sure. But to the extent of my knowledge and experience of knowing her, no."

Hermione was quiet as she processed this. Harry watched her face to understand what she might have been thinking. Ron interrupted his inspection.

"Let me get this right. She was a muggle, but she didn't mind that you and Percy could do all this stuff? Don't you think that's a little weird?"

"No." Harry answered flatly. "She knew what Percy was. She just didn't tell us. But none of us knew what I was. She could have just avoided me, but she didn't."

"I'd like to meet her." Hermione mumbled. Harry rolled his eyes. "I've wanted to meet her too, Hermione. For quite some time, now."

"Huh?"

"They left when I was eight. She said that she kept seeing signs of some kind of power wanting to hurt us if we stayed together. I wasn't really sure, but she was scared so I went along with it."

"They went to the States, right? You didn't hear from them?"

"No."

The three were quiet again and Harry sighed before digging into his robes. He found a few and held out his palm towards them.

"What's that?" Ron asked taking one.

"Photos. I had given Colin most of mine last year. He said he would get them to move. With that potion, remember? He gave them to me a while back. That's Sally Jackson. That's Percy Jackson. And that's me."

Ron and Hermione stared at the colour moving photos. There were young versions of Harry along with two other subjects waving at them.

"Percy and I were three in this one. We had gone to the beach." Harry said unnecessarily.

"You actually look normal." Ron blurted out. Hermione elbowed him, none too subtly.

"Yeah. The other one is when we were seven. We have a lot of beach photos, now that I think of it."

Hermione looked at the slightly subdued photographic adaptation of the seven year old Harry, the thirteen year old one and the three year old boy. The latter was much too happy compared to the previous ones. Something was wrong.

She looked up to ask Harry exactly that but faltered when Harry was staring at her. It was like he knew what she was thinking. He gave her an unblinking look, his dark green eyes boring into her brown ones. He was daring her to ask.

_Go on_, he seemed to say. _Ask what's wrong with me_.

Hermione bit the inside of her cheek and lowered her gaze. Her eyes prickled a little. Harry's eyes had burned a little. She took a look at the photo, where the other boy was next to Harry. It looked as though, they were very close.

Percy seemed to have no fear when he was with Harry. He looked extremely happy and content from his spot on seven year old Harry's back. Harry was walking through what looked like a forest giving Percy a ride on his back. The two boys were almost beautiful to look at. They had no skin colour, but the sunlight gave them a freshness, like a glow. Same pitch black hair. While Harry's hair was wild, Percy's was more subdued and laid on his head, hanging past his ears as it was a little long. Percy's eyes were a bright blue and green. Harry's eyes looked bright too. Emerald green.

"You guys look seriously similar. Are you related or something?" Ron asked, shifting over Hermione's shoulder to look at the photos she clutched.

Harry gave them a tired look, "No. A lot of people thought we were twins. We are _not_ related. Get that fact straight."

"Okay, grumpikins." Ron muttered and Harry shoved him into the water. It was harmless, but some of the photos fell into the lake. Ron immediately picked them up and absorbed the water off, drying them quickly.

"Percy can do that too." Harry said taking the photos. Ron shrugged. Hermione could see that Ron wasn't okay with another person sharing his Core.

"Different worlds." She said firmly, trying to make Ron feel better. He shrugged again.

* * *

**Not sure when the next update can take place, but I'll do my best. Stay tuned!**

**Cabba.**


	5. Danny's 'Family'

**Son of Whitebeard - How many people think I need to put this story into the crossover section? There's going to be mentions of Twilight and Percy Jackson.**

**RedRangerBelt – Too many perfect questions! Enjoy the story and be patient enough to draw in the suspense. You're one of my best readers and reviewers!**

**xXTheDragonRiderXx – Good to hear from you again. Thanks.**

**I've put up a poll on my Pumki series. Vote!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Harry Potter**_**, **_**Percy Jackson and the Olympians**_** or the **_**Twilight Saga**_**. This work is pure imagination based on the original authors' works.**

**Listening to – 'Set Fire to the Rain' by Adele**

**Words –2603**

(Time lapse - one month)

* * *

_She was graceful. Her movements were fluid-like. She wore a simple blue soft jacket with the hood over her head, covering more than half her face. Her balance was perfect even though it had been a while she had done this. Her feet, clad in the skates, bent as she took every step of poise._

_The large stadium was empty. Except for him. The spot light was trained on the ice. He was staring at her, spell bound. Her beauty in her dance was so expressive, he had to literally shake himself from his frozen form to focus. His hands touched the bar as he leaned over to watch her carefully._

_He had thought she did ballet. But this wasn't ballet. _

_She was a queen. In her slightly faded hoodie and black jeans, she moved on the ice surface dancing and spinning on her skates like she was born to do so._

* * *

Harry frowned as he suddenly came from his dream. He blinked. Reality came back to him and he looked right at DJ's face. DJ was on his back, his mouth slightly open. Harry let out a slight breath and it wasn't foggy. He wasn't feeling very cold. It was obviously past midnight.

Which meant that he had a strange dream in just fifteen minutes of sleep. That had to be a record, right?

Harry looked down at his hand which was still over DJ's shoulder. He shifted to move it but DJ stirred a little and Harry decided to stay still. He turned his head.

The Great Hall was dark and quiet. The ceiling above was dimly lit with far away stars. After Dumbledore had heard Debby, the portrait of the woman who guarded the Gryffindor Common Room entrance, stammer out that Sirius Black had attacked her, the entire student population had to camp out in the Hall while the castle was being searched.

Harry had though he wouldn't be able to sleep. But he did. And he had a vague dream. And he woke up confused.

Harry did not want to think about Sirius Black and so decided to try to recall the woman ice skating in his dream. He shut his eyes and tried to envision the scene.

He was watching her dance to a song which he couldn't recognize. But she moved to the music and he thought she was very good.

But the strange thing was it wasn't him in the dream. The other person watching her had been someone else. From Harry's point of view, all he could see was that the man had blondish brown blob on his head. It could've been a cap or hair.

The main focus was the ice skating woman. Harry knew the woman but he couldn't remember. Who was she?

Harry sighed. The quietness was too profound. Before he had fallen asleep, the soft whispers were comforting from other students had been comforting. Harry rolled slightly thinking about DJ's face when the boy had realized that Black had broken into the castle. He had been slightly panicked and Harry had decided that it was better to spend the night with DJ than with Ron and Hermione.

He grabbed two squishy purple sleeping bags for him and his cousin and it had taken him a while to get the younger boy calm and sleepy. Harry had spent the day with him while Ron and Hermione had gone to the first Hogsmeade trip.

First thing to do in the morning was to try and talk to Dumbledore.

* * *

DJ trailed behind Harry determined to spend the day off as his cousin's shadow. With the teachers strengthening most of the wards around the castle, lake and forest, it was a stay-at-castle day for all students. Debbie was still taking shelter behind a large buffalo on the thirteenth floor, so Harry hadn't been able to talk to her yet.

"What are you gonna talk about?" DJ's voice mumbled from behind. Harry spared him a second's glance and slowed his pace down. DJ looked up with a solemn expression as if somebody had died.

It struck Harry that DJ hadn't really taken Black's escape that seriously until he had broken into one of the most secure places in the world.

That definitely could unnerve anyone.

"Hey. Everyone's given more protection to the castle and I'm pretty sure that the Minister's going to bring in more dementors. Even though I'm violently against the idea, if it keeps him out and far, then it's for the best. But I'm not going to let anything get to you or me. Do you understand?"

DJ frowned, "He got into Hogwarts. He got so close to you. You're the one he wants to kill! Not me. What if he tries again next time and –"

"There isn't going to be a next time." Harry said firmly. He gave DJ a definite star and the younger boy averted his eyes, looking at the wall.

"Look, let's just talk to Dumbledore –"

"Granpa." DJ mumbled.

Harry sighed, "Yeah. Let's tell him –"

"No, I mean, Granpa's right there." DJ said pointing to the end of the corridor.

Sure enough, there was the Headmaster talking to a pale looking man in a muggle like suit without the blazer. The stranger had bright blond hair and from the distance, it looked as though it gleamed even without and light. The man looked very young compared to Dumbledore but Harry could see that he spoke with an ease that could have been done only if he knew Dumbledore for a very long time. The blond man looked to be only a few years past Hogwarts' graduation age.

"Is there something off about that bloke?" DJ asked leaning around Harry to get a better look at the new comer. Harry nodded.

They watched the man and Dumbledore talk and then slowly walk towards the other direction, out of sight.

"Who do you think that was?"

Harry shrugged. "Not sure, but they were talking about more security for Hogwarts. The man must be some kind of Auror."

"An Auror! Awesome! Wait, how'd you know that? I couldn't hear them."

"Trade secrets of Harry Potter." Harry said.

* * *

The weather had turned colder. Not that Harry had noticed. It had been hard enough to ignore the fact that there had been dementors every night on the grounds, freezing the plants and all life. Harry had to work extra hard to keep from connecting to his Core. He had even received a note of apology from the Ministry who had offered some compensation in gold, which he refused. As if it was going to help.

"Harry? You look a little further down the dumps." A mild voice spoke up from the side, interrupting Harry's thoughts. He had been on his way to the Gryffindor corridor from the Quidditch Pitch. The rain hadn't been much, but Oliver had predicted heavy downpour on the oncoming match with Hufflepuff and had made them practice for four hours straight. After George had fallen asleep on his broom, slipped and fallen on Oliver, the latter had let them go.

Harry turned towards the direction of the voice and realized that he had just crossed the open door of Professor Lupin's Office.

Remus Lupin was the school's new DADA teacher. Most of the school liked him for his firm and pleasant demeanor on class which was more effective than the previous teachers. Harry and DJ knew him to be a friend of their Dads. Ron just liked him because Snape loathed Lupin as much as he did Harry.

"Good evening, Professor." Harry said, stopping and looking into the office. The last time he had been in the room, he was serving torture, er… , signature lessons from Lockhart the Ludicrous. A name devised by the Ginny Weasley.

"Come in, we've been waiting for you." Lupin said, smiling. His bright blue eyes were warm and reminded Harry of his blue-eye obsessed blue-eyed mother, Sally. Yes, that was weird that she liked blue eyes.

Lupin looked older than he really was. His brown hair had graying strands but it didn't deter his teaching or socializing ways.

Harry, slightly warily, entered the room and stared at the other two occupants sitting beside Lupin by the small table.

DJ was grinning brightly from his seat and he waved Harry, patting the seat next to him. The third person was Rosalie McCarty.

She looked even more exquisite in real life.

Harry blinked and tried to stare away from her face as he quietly walked around her and sat next to his cousin who immediately looked back at the woman.

"Hello Harry." She said in a sweet melodic voice. Her smile was captivating and Harry stared at her for a second too long before nodding and looking towards Lupin.

"She arrived just an hour ago with her family, Harry. She wanted to meet the both of you. Daniel is quite excited, as you can see." Lupin gestured subtly to the fact that DJ's grin was still solidly fixed on his face.

Harry pressed his lips together and nodded. He gave Mrs. McCarty another look. She gave him a non-threatening smile. Harry let out a breath and thought, _Her diet is not human blood! Just talk! _

"How are you, Mrs. McCarty?" Harry said politely, extinguishing all traces of wariness and stiffness from his face and body. DJ's trance was broken as he stared at the handshake, Harry and she exchanged.

Her grip was soft yet firm. Her skin was smooth and not much colder than Harry's. But she had a legit reason for that.

"Very fine, thank you, Harry. But you may call me Rosalie."

_I already know a Rosalie,_ Harry thought. But he nodded, nevertheless.

He stayed with them for another hour, relaxing in her presence. She wasn't too menacing as he had imagined. He felt a smidge of shame as he realized that he had expected her to behave crudely like most of her kind.

Rosalie was polite and she and Lupin talked about the Potters. How close she became with Melody and Alice and then Lily and their friends. When Melody was thirteen, Rosalie had applied for adoption even though it was a lost cause. Non-humans could have nothing to do with children.

Rosalie and her family were vampires.

But Harry agreed (mentally) with DJ that they were the 'cool' kind of vampires.

The Cullen family, with which Rosalie and her husband Emmett travelled and stayed with, had resided briefly in the nearby Hogsmeade village for a few years until Melody had passed out of Hogwarts. They had set her up for a larynx/ throat operation during the summer before her final year and to everyone's happiness, it was successful.

DJ's mother had been born mute, but after she turned seventeen, she opted for a chance to have her voice.

The ironical fact was that her Core magic was Music.

Not the mundane human created version. The natural sounds of the environment – the breeze, the small leaves rusting, the slow sunrise, sunsets… nature spoke to mankind and Melody was the only one who could understand it.

It was the sole reason why she and Lily Evans bonded on the train.

"It was sweet. Lily said that she could feel Melody's subtle aura and almost ran the length of the train to sit in her compartment and befriend her." Rosalie hummed, her voice being a perfect tone of a background narrator. Harry could easily picture a young girl running through the Hogwarts express, her dark red hair flying as she passed each carriage searching for the magic that had a psychological connection to her own Core. Music and Nature – Magic.

* * *

DJ's grin threatened to split his face. Harry ran his hand through his slightly damp hair and said, "So…"

"I love her! She's amazing! And she's letting me call her 'Aunt'! Her hair is really blond. Not as much as Luna's, though. The way she talked about my Mum and Dad, I swear, I miss them all over again."

His tone fell a little at the end of the sentence before picking up, "She's great, isn't she?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. I suppose her experience helps her. I wouldn't mind meeting her husband."

DJ smiled and raised his hands, "Yeah! I'd like to meet them all. I hope we can. May be a Christmas reunion!"

"Reunion?" Harry questioned, feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of meeting vampires. In plural. Rosalie was nice enough, but what about the rest?

"Aw, come on, Harry. I'm sure they're great. Don't judge them."

Harry gave a sigh and nodded.

That same night, Dumbledore stood up to address the school after dinner. It had been slow, but Harry could tell that there was something troubling him. Anyone could tell that. Everyone fell silent as they stared at his tired face.

"He looks really exhausted." Hermione whispered to Ron and Harry. Harry watched as the Headmaster smiled at them like Father Christmas. Which was strange because it wasn't December, yet.

"I hope you're stomachs have been satisfied enough for this. As an added precaution and security, the Minister and I have come to a slightly more advanced conclusion. During the nights, we will have patrols undertaken by our very capable protectors."

Harry blinked. That speech had made no specifics or much sense. But what happened next did.

From the staff's entrance door, a couple walked in and made most of the students go deadly silent.

They looked to be of Hogwarts age. The boy was tall with reddish brown hair. His brown eyes gave a slightly metallic gaze. He stood tall and regal like a new king who had been crowned.

The girl was shorter with mahogany hair in a pony-tail. She had dark brown eyes just like him, which made Harry wonder whether they were siblings. They looked very dissimilar, though.

But there was something about them which made Harry shiver. It felt as though he was look at 'Aunt' Rosalie. But the couple wasn't vampires. They looked quite human except for the strangeness of their eyes.

"Tony and Marie Mason, I welcome you to Hogwarts. I'm sure the castle will be a wonderful home for you and the rest of your group."

They smiled and nodded, but Harry could see some strain in it. Though they seemed okay with the students, he felt that there was something missing.

The door opened and six others entered. Harry froze and DJ's jaw dropped.

Three men and three women followed the first couple. There were two blonde men, one of whom looked very familiar to Harry. Two women with brown and black hair. A large muscular man with brown hair and an impish grin and finally, a very human looking Rosalie McCarty.

"The Cullens are going to guard the castle?!" DJ whisper-yelled. Harry nodded transfixed at how very normal the eight vampires looked to everyone.

Glamour charms. Had to be.

Great, Harry thought. He didn't have anything against vampires (unless they tried to kill him), but the situation seemed to make sense.

The Ministry brought in Dementors to guard the grounds. Dumbledore brought in the Cullens – humanized – to protect the inhabitants of the castle.

Harry tuned out the end of Dumbledore's ineffective speech and watched how the new comers subtley gave Harry and DJ two-second looks.

An escaped convict out to kill him, dementors around Hogwarts, vampires in Hogwarts, a crazy teacher who kept telling him how he would die and that vision about Percy Jackson.

This year wouldn't get any weirder.

Unfortunately, it did.

* * *

**Stay tuned for the upcoming chapters. This one had more information but action is not far off!**

**Cabba.**


	6. Secrets?

**RedRangerBelt – I'm trying to remove the repeated scenes from original scenes and putting in my own. You'll find it better when you understand the sequence I have in my head.**

**Critics – Thank you for your honest opinions. The fact that more than one of you has commented on a certain point is making me take notice of it more. **

**Lasthunt – You got it right!**

**Percy is going to make his appearance along with another PJO character.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original works of **_**Harry Potter**_**, **_**Percy Jackson and the**__**Olympians**_** and the **_**Twilight Saga**_**. Any and all similarities belong to the imaginations of the respective authors and the others are coincidence or from my imagination.**

**Warning – a little swearing, bleeding.**

**Listening to – 'Walk' by Foo Fighters.**

**Words – 3215**

* * *

Nobody suspected the Cullens. Nobody questioned their appearances. But that was because there was nothing to doubt. The eight vampires looked even more human that Harry and it didn't unnerve anyone.

Except for Hermione.

"Hermione, calm down." Ron said in exasperation as she watched the large form of one of the protectors walk by the Entrance Corridor. Hermione chewed on her toast without enthusiasm and leaned over the table to whisper to Ron, "Don't you think there's something… I don't know… off, about them?"

Hermione frowned and opened her Monster Book of Monsters after stroking the spine. She tried to take her mind off of it. Just like she tried not to think about Professor Lupin. Just like she tried not to think about Harry's bronze bracelet. Just like she tried not to worry about her unknown Core.

"Hermione."

And those thoughts came flying into her head. She tried not to groan as she rubbed her eyes, forcing the sleep to go away. It was too ironic considering her situation. She virtually had time to kill, but couldn't find any to sleep.

Focus on something nice. Something calm. Soft. Red. Blue. Hair. Eyes. Freckles…

"Hermione?"

He had grown taller over the summer. She liked his smile…

"Hermione!"

Hermione jumped. Her plate bounced off the table onto the floor, clattering noisily. She looked up to see Harry standing on the other side of the table holding a scroll with a gold ribbon. He raised his eyebrows as she blushed and took it, avoiding Ron's obliviousness. But she couldn't help glance at the boy.

She saw Harry's sleep deprived eyes gazing over her face and then Ron's as if he was trying to connect the dots and understand what she was thinking so deeply.

Trying not to look sheepish, she took the scroll with as much dignity she could muster up. The moment she took it, she felt a slight shiver go through her neck. She frowned. The scroll seemed to be normal. Then, what…?

"Hi, DJ? Why're you so late for breakfast?" Ron asked suddenly and Hermione looked up to see young DJ, nearly two years her junior. She tried not to stare at his eyes which seemed to be a very bright blue for the slightly cloudy day.

Honestly! She needed sleep…

"Hermione? Are you alright?" Harry's voice laced with rare concern reached her ears just as she thought of dozing off for a few seconds.

"Yes!" She almost snapped at him but regretted it the next second as Harry looked a little taken aback. He recovered quickly, though, nodded and kept quiet, being deep in thought. He started fiddling with his bronze knut, but didn't eat anything.

Hermione tried not to sigh and turned over to DJ who looked troubled.

"Was hanging out near the Pumpkin patch by Hagrid's hut. He's already started on next year's batch." DJ sat down next to Harry, clumsily taking a sip out of his goblet.

Ron swallowed his next portion and pestered, "Yeah, but who were you with?"

"I was alone!" DJ exclaimed, glaring at Ron. "Jeez, Ron! Can't you just leave it?"

"Hey, I just asked! I though Ginny was with you because I haven't seen her at all today."

The day was just starting. Hermione thought that either Ron or DJ was wound up tightly to start worrying early in the day. Since Ron seemed to be devouring all the edibles with his usual gusto, she was inclined to surmise that DJ had something really weighing on his mind. The boy did seem down. He looked a lot like Harry without his usual upbeat behavior.

"She's in the library." Harry said unexpectedly, directing the attention towards him. He didn't look up from his empty gleaming plate, as though engrossed with his reflection.

"How do you know that?" Ron asked suspiciously.

Harry looked up and shrugged, "Her bag was unnaturally heavy. It reminded me of Hermione. Plus, she had a library slip in her hand."

Hermione tried to keep her face neutral when Harry commented on her bag. Of course, he would have noticed. Harry never usually missed anything. But he also knew how to keep a secret. If he did figure out hers…

"Where's Hedwig?" DJ asked suddenly pulling them into a new topic.

"Away." Harry said shortly and checked the time on his wristwatch. "Twenty minutes to the bell. We have Divination."

Ron groaned and dropped his spoon. Hermione watched Ron, DJ and Harry and she suddenly realised that she wasn't the only one keeping secrets. There were two others and Ron was completely oblivious to the subtle tension.

DJ didn't even look up and Hermione saw Harry frown at him before the trio left for the long journey towards Trelawney's class.

"So." She said nervously. Ron looked at her and Harry kept snapping his thumb nail over his knut making the sound echo slightly in the less crowded corridor.

"Did you start the homework?" She said lamely, adjusting the strap of her heavy bag. She had to find a lightening charm of sorts.

"What homework?" Ron asked bewildered. Hermione sighed.

* * *

"Broaden your minds." Professor Trelawney's voice floated over everyone's ears and Hermione stifled a yawn. She had honestly thought that this class would have been interesting. Before the start of term she couldn't wait to resume her studies with intermediate books on previous subjects and start on new ones. There was the thrill of learning new topics beyond the normal. A summer of living a muggle life was so different now that she was a witch. Sure, France was amazing and spending quality time with her usually busy parents was gratefully satisfying but magic was something she could never give away willingly.

Although, Divination was one branch she was ready to skip. It seemed to be made up of hokum. And smoke.

Trelawney kept talking about strange omens and signs from the beyond and above which could only be seen by the 'Inner-Eye'.

Now if she had said something like seeing rare magic fluxes with concentration, that, Hermione would have believed.

She rubbed her eyes and looked over towards Ron, who had his hand as a support on which he leaned his head heavily. Hermione snapped her palm against his wrist which slipped away and his head hit the table with a dull table.

"Hermione! What the bloody hell?"

"You were about to sleep!"

"Look around, this is worse than History of Magic! Dean's snoring!"

Hermione turned her head to see Dean Thomas temporarily dead to the world. She gave his best friend, Seamus Finnegan, a look and he rolled his eyes. Seamus shook Dean's shoulder roughly and said, "Time's up. My turn. Wake me in five."

And he put his head down in slumber.

"Honestly! They aren't even trying to pay attention! Look, Neville's not asleep –"

"Yet." Ron added.

Hermione narrowed her eyes and gave him a small McGonagall glare, "Divination isn't nap time –"

"We just exchanged it with History. Relax, Hermione. Look, even Harry's asleep!"

Hermione did a double take as she turned to see her other best friend immobile on the round tea table, his glasses balanced at the end of his nose, one hand hanging out of the edge, his head resting on his other hand.

She stared at his face. The usual troubled, scowl was gone; replaced with a smooth calm expression. His hair was messy over his face and she could see his scar peeking out a bit. For a second, he looked completely different. As if he were a regular boy with regular troubles.

Even as Hermione watched, his fingers twitched and touched the crystal ball placed carefully on its holder on the centre of the table.

The white foggy appearance of the crystal ball started moving and swirling. Hermione stared at it in shock. Was she witnessing Inner-Eye magic?!

The white colour of the fog turned into an intensive blue. It reminded Hermione of French paintings of celestial bodies in the sky. The blue churned about as if there was a powerful wind within the glass ball. Slowly, it changed into a sea blue shade.

The colour was incredible. Hermione thought she was looking into the depths of the seas where light was shone.

"Ron, are you seeing this?!" She hissed.

Receiving no answer, she turned to see him asleep again. She shoved him vigorously and he muttered nonsense about Chudley Cannons.

"Look! Look at the crystal!" She said urgently. Ron blinked and his eyes grew wide.

The class was engrossed in their own dreams but Hermione and Ron couldn't have been wider awake if they tried. Whatever was happening was captivating.

"It's the ocean!" Ron whispered in awe.

The fog changed colours again. Green seeped in and the crystal reflected a bright emerald green. For some reason, Hermione felt that they should know what the colours meant, but she had no clue.

Then the fog started to dissipate. When it cleared, Hermione stared at the centre where something seemed to be moving.

Due to the curved surface of the crystal ball, they couldn't see what exactly was happening.

"It's human!" Ron murmured.

Hermione frowned along with him and they leaned towards it. The silhouette of the person moved and it became clearer.

"Two people." Hermione corrected absentmindedly.

The figures of two small children appeared in a background of green.

"Forest?" Ron asked. She nodded.

Two children running around in the forest. They had black hair and dark muggle clothes. They seemed to be playing around the trees and Hermione couldn't help but smile.

Then, a black spot appeared between the two small boys. Ron and Hermione held their breaths.

The blackness lengthened like a slit and it turned blood red.

Suddenly, the crystal ball let out a very loud 'crack' and seemed to explode. Hermione shot back and screamed. Ron yelled out some profanities while Harry's head snapped up as he yanked his hand from the table.

The entire class jumped at the commotion.

"Dammit! Shit!" Harry hissed, his language slipping into a stream of words which Hermione couldn't understand. But that wasn't what shocked her.

Red was seeping through the table cloth soaking it. Harry's right palm had a deep cut from his index finger to his wrist. It looked as though someone had taken a knife and swiped it over his flesh.

Hermione felt her stomach roll as she watched the heavy bleeding and cried, "Oh God! Harry, you have to go to the Hospital Wing!"

Even before she finished her sentence, Harry had wrapped a part of his robe around the palm tightly and was sprinting towards the floor door.

Most of the other students were in panic as they watched the sudden scene and while Trelawney took a while to settle them down, Ron was already running after Harry. Hermione grabbed all three bags and was after them in a jiffy.

She turned around before going down the door. Amidst the small chaos, she saw the crystal ball completely intact. But the fog had turned a dense red as though it had absorbed Harry's blood. The fog whirled around before fading back to an original white. Hermione shivered.

* * *

By the time she had caught up with them, Hermione was panting. Her own bag was quite heavy in the first place, but combined with Harry's and Ron's, she felt like she was lugging around a hundred kilos.

They were on the sixth floor now and Harry had Ron's handkerchief wrapped around his wound. It had soaked through, though and was starting to drip now. Hermione grimaced and looked away. The three walked in silence.

Looking back on it, Hermione couldn't understand. How did Harry cut his hand? He was asleep! The crystal ball couldn't have done anything, right? There was no broken piece of anything that could have pierced skin. No crystal shards. But the ball had cracked. She remembered seeing it explode right before her eyes.

She looked towards Harry and asked. "Harry? What exactly happened?"

"I cut my hand." He answered. Hermione fought the urge to yell.

"No…no, I know that, but what –"

Harry shook his head and slowed his steps to a walk. He relaxed a little and went at a pace as though he was walking in a park.

"Harry, we need to get you there as fast as possible." Ron said in frustration, trying to pull him along, but Harry shook his head.

"If I hurry up, I'll start breathing faster and I'll lose more blood. I need to calm down and do the least bit of exercise."

Hermione's eyes widened, "That's not right! You need to get medical attention first and then calm down. It's no good if you do it now!"

Harry turned towards her and sighed. "Stop right here."

"What?"

"Here." He repeated, slowing down beside the portrait of the mad knight they had encountered a while back.

Sir Cadogan and his little fat pony was one of the jokes of the castle. He was considered inept and clumsy. Dramatic, though Harry knew that the only reason why Sir Cadogan shouted slurs and curses was that he was guarding something. The portrait was a door.

"Open up." Harry said.

Sir Cadogan brushed away grass and mud stains from his rusted armour and cried, "What ho! You braggart! No one shall command –"

"Harry, we already have you on the wagon, we don't need another mental person." Ron groaned.

"Scurvy dogs! Sir Cadogan shall not be referred to such blasphemy!"

Harry raised his hand towards the portrait. "Are you knight or what? Help a bloke here."

"Egads! A sir in distress! Not to worry, if I shall not lead you to assistance, my name is not Sir Cadogan of Mavis! Onwards, good sirs and dear lady!"

Saying this, his portrait swung open like that of the entrance of the Gryffindor Common Room. The corridor that was revealed was slightly narrow, but Hermione could hear the distinct sounds of student murmurs through it.

"What the…?" Ron stumbled through his words but Harry interrupted him, "Thanks. Come on."

He climbed in without looking back to see if they followed. Ron turned around to take his and Harry's bags from Hermione, relieving her aching shoulders. She smiled at him and entered the hole.

The claustrophobic walk was not even five seconds when Harry pushed back the tapestry of dancing trolls at the end and walked out. Hermione stepped out and stared at the surroundings.

The large hallway was just to the right of the Entrance Hall. They had travelled six floors through a secret passageway.

Ron grinned, "Cool. How did you know that?"

Harry gave a shrug and frowned at his hand for a second. "Most portraits are openings to passages or rooms. Large undecorated walls are not real. Suits of armours are some of the best charmed guards. Hogwarts is listening. You just have to observe and ask."

"Bloody brilliant, though."

Hermione couldn't even reprimand Ron for his language and they passed the corridor towards the double doors of the Hospital Wing.

There were no patients, but Madam Pomfrey came bustling out of her office, holding a tray of two goblets and some bandages. The medi-witch gave Harry's hand a look of alarm and almost slammed the tray down on the side table of one of the end beds. She dragged him by the shoulder and pushed him down, immediately waving her hand over his palm to lessen the pain.

Hermione stared, "How… forget it." Of course the matron would've known. Sir Cadogan would've boasted some of the other portraits. Rumours spread very easily and fast around Hogwarts.

The matron frowned at the cut. "How did this happen? I don't see any intrusion remains."

Harry blinked and then looked towards Ron and Hermione. They looked back at him in confusion.

Hermione couldn't wrap her mind around it. Just a while ago, she was convinced that Harry had done something and was pretending to not know how the accident occurred. But now he stared at them as though he had no clue. Besides, the evidence was on his side. He was asleep. They had been staring at the crystal ball.

She gave him a steady and understated glare hoping he'd understand that he had some explaining to do. He clenched his jaw, his eyes sending the message, _I have no idea what happened_.

* * *

Harry sighed as he felt the skin moving slightly under the bandages. It wasn't painful, but it felt surreal. His entire palm was useless for the next hour save for his stiff thumb, middle, ring and little fingers. He could barely bend them. The numbing potion was strong and the healing one had left the aftertaste of sweet lemonade on his tongue.

He adjusted the bag strap over his shoulder with one hand and decided that it was a good time to practice his handwriting with his left hand. Leaning back against the wall behind his hospital bed, he thumbed through his music book, flipping the pages till his reached an empty one. The book was one of his most personal possessions. It had his mother's song lyrics, his own notes about music, few drawings of some people and of course, a collection of journal entries.

No, Bolt, it's not a diary.

Positioning the quill was easy enough. Placing it in the ink bottle was not to hard either. Filled with ink, Harry carefully held the quill over the page and was about to move his left hand fingers to write one small word when a sudden noise startled his movement so badly that the quill created a streak across the paper.

Harry turned to see a small girl standing next to his bed, grinning up at him. She had soft chocolate brown eyes, slightly pink skin and strange reddish brown curls. She had an aura of a strange sense of beauty, like a Veela. But she didn't look Bulgarian or French. He couldn't be sure of what exactly she was. She gave him a sweet smile, showing off her teeth and said, "Hi!"

Harry stared in alarm. She didn't look eleven at all. She seemed to be closer to seven or maybe eight. She couldn't be allowed here, right?

But as Harry kept watching her expressions, he decided that some of her facial features were familiar.

"No offence. But you aren't supposed to be here." Harry said carefully.

Her face fell at his negative response but she brightened up immediately, "Why not?"

"Well…" Harry trailed off not sure how to address her. Was she some Ministry official's daughter who tagged along with her parent for a meeting with Dumbledore? What young kid wouldn't want to be at Hogwarts?

"You're too young." Harry said.

The girl gave a pout and sighed, "Yeah, yeah. I know. But my family's here. So I'm staying with them."

Of three things, Harry was sure now. One, the child definitely did not have a British accent. It was American.

Two, she spoke as though she had a large family who were camping out at Hogwarts for the next few months. Harry knew only one family who had appeared a while ago and it was not to camp.

Three, she was neither human, nor vampire.

* * *

**Stay tuned for the next chapter. This story's going to be short and you'll be reading about the reunion soon!**

**Cabba.**


	7. Lost in the Past

**I've just realized something. (Yeah, I'm probably not the brightest.) Most of you are losing interest in this story because of no Percy. So I'm fast forwarding it. **

**Everything from Christmas to Easter has been skipped. The events are more or less of that to the book.**

**xXTheDragonRiderXx – Wait, who's a demigod?**

**Weird'sMyName – a small deviation from the original version. This is AU…**

**Kyrianae Narii – Thanks! I'm glad you love them. Pumki is great. Even I want to bring Percy in so badly, but I made a table and I am sticking to it. It won't be long now! **

**Long chapter just for you. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the original works of Harry Potter, Twilight or Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

**Warning – Swearing and threats.**

**Listening to – 9 Crimes by Damien Rice**

**Words – 5053**

* * *

When Easter was over Harry had it figured out.

The little girl was a part-vampire. Nothing strange in that.

Hermione disagreed.

Harry also knew if Remus wasn't human.

Hermione didn't want to agree.

Harry wondered what was normal.

Nothing, Ron had suggested.

With the silly grim omens, Quidditch wins, Remus' truth, Cullens and other mind-numbing realities, Harry also started having strange dreams. Again.

There was that queen who acted as though he was the king of the old ages. There was the ice skating woman. There was his sister, his mother and his father who strangely seemed to accept the fact that nothing was wrong in the dream world.

And of course, Harry, Ron and Hermione were no closer to finding out more about Harry's vision the previous year.

But that was mostly because of the Crookshanks-Scabbers problem.

Hogwarts had witnessed one of the worst Ron/Hermione argument in three years.

Neither was talking to each other. Scabbers was presumed to have been a snack for Crookshanks who was now banned from the boys' dormitory. Hermione steered clear of Ron and anyone who stood close to him. Ron kept muttering about her pride and how Hermione didn't want to admit the simple fact that Crookshanks was evil in disguise.

Of course, the problem about Sirius Black was very alive. Dementors' were affecting the grounds every night and Harry felt his head would be experiencing migraines from the lack of his Core connection. Having the source of your magic frozen every night was not pleasant.

In fact, nearly everyone's magic was being affected by the Dementors.

Ron grumbled about not liking _his lake_ to be frozen and then refrozen every 24 hours. Hermione muttered about the _poor grounds_. DJ was not happy breathing in _cold air_ every morning outside. Ginny glared at everything in retaliation to _her fire_ dying out every night. Malfoy complained about the Slytherins' common room growing colder even with all the heating charms. Ravenclaws complained about the cold hitting their dormitories through the tower windows. Hufflepuffs didn't complain as they had the kitchens right above them, but they put in their knuts. Cullens didn't say a word, though they gave collective glares to the hooded creatures.

Peeves was sad that the castle wasn't complaining about him.

The final day of the Easter week, taught Harry something very important.

It started like this. Harry had almost run from the Gryffindor Common Room when Hermione started talking to herself how certain people never cared to listen to their side of the story. Ron then, abandoned his chess game with Harry and turned towards her.

Even Fred and George had gotten tired of poking them.

Before the fight had raised voices, Harry was out of the portrait hole, rubbing his scar furiously. He could've sworn that the pain was only in his right temple.

The early evening had a crispy coolness mixed with the heat of the sun. There were many others around but Harry came across a small boy sitting in the shade of the large oak tree by the lake. The boy had a red jacket that looked like the one DJ had given Harry as a birthday gift. This one was smaller though.

Heading towards the large stone bridge, Harry crossed it and saw the large form of Hagrid moving around in his pumpkin patch.

Harry pushed his palms into his jeans pockets and walked towards one of his first friends who Harry trusted on the first hour of meeting.

Hagrid was petting the head of a grey feathered Hippogriff. Buckbeak let out a small whine as Harry came nearer and Hagrid turned around, his face splitting into a large smile.

" 'Arry! Whatcha doin', 'ere? Last day of 'olidays and no 'omework?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "That not like me, Hagrid. You know this. I'm just checking in on Beaky."

Harry rubbed the hippogriff's head without even doing the proper process of bowing and slow movements. For some reason Buckbeak trusted Harry completely.

Bolt gave a show of stretching dramatically and hopped out of Harry's chest. She landed gracefully as a puppy next to one of the pumpkin and sniffed at them.

Buckbeak gave Bolt a snarl before scooting closer towards Harry. Hagrid chuckled and mumbled something too low for Harry to hear.

"Feed 'im, will ye, 'Arry?"

Though Hagrid gave of an air of comfort, he looked very troubled. It was clear that Hagrid would never be able to get over Buckbeak and the entire Malfoy drama.

Harry sighed as he grabbed a few dead ferrets from the stand next to the scarecrow. Draco Malfoy had become increasingly intolerable over the past few months. Harry couldn't explain it. He had been so sure that Malfoy had been trying to change but then he had gone back to his old ways, soon enough.

And now, because of him, Buckbeak was being sentenced to death for behaving like a hippogriff.

Out of all the hippogriffs, Beaky had been closest to Hagrid and Harry did not like the upstart Slytherin's actions.

"How are Ron an' Hermione?" Hagrid asked suddenly. Harry looked up and gave a dry look.

"Still not getting along. I feel like a rasher of bacon being sandwiched between two very uncooperative slices of bread. Getting bloody annoying, I tell you."

Hagrid just smiled. "It's only for a little while. Scabbers was very old, right? If they apologize to each 'ther, everything'll be alright. It didn't 'appen on purpose, right?"

"It's not so easy, Hagrid. Lots of people have tried to talk to them. Even Dean! They were quiet for two days before they started again. Then after the Quidditch party, that night, you know, they were okay, but just last week, something set them off. I don't know what and they won't tell me."

Hagrid gave him a solemn look and picked up his pink umbrella. Harry took a second to look at its tip.

Yup. Definitely his wand piece.

"I 'ave the go to Diagon Alley for some more fertilizer. The pumpkin patch's bigger than the last."

Harry nodded, "See you."

Hagrid gave him a glare. "Yeh're going back to the castle, 'Arry. I'm not letting you stay 'ere alone. Come' n."

Harry sighed and gave Buckbeak another pat. "I'll be here, tomorrow, boy. Take care."

The grounded hippogriff let out a sad neigh, like a horse and laid his head on his front paws.

As he closed the small gate of the patch, Harry spared a glance at the small clump of pink tiger lily plants growing just outside the pumpkin patch. He saw the beginnings of a few buds and knew that they would have bloomed by the end of the year.

Harry would have followed Hagrid but just then, someone stepped out of the forest. DJ was looking at his shoes and shaking the mud off them as he stumbled. But then he shook his hair and straightened up looking right at Harry.

"Harry! What – "

"No." Harry interrupted frowning at his cousin. "What were you doing in the forest, Dan?"

DJ muttered something and then said, "Well…you know…just roaming about…and thinking…"

Harry walked towards him and looked into the forest. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

"You went into the forest alone?!"

DJ made a face of disbelief before stepping away from Harry, "Harry! How could you accuse me –"

"Danny…"

"No, seriously, it wasn't that far. I was just around the edges!" DJ protested. Then he pointed into a particular direction through the trees and said, "There's a clearing in there. I spent a few minutes, that's all!"

Harry didn't like it. The forest was crawling with creatures everywhere. It was too dangerous to go in alone, especially without Hagrid or Fang or Harry. What if he went on a full moon? Professor Lupin wouldn't know at all that the boy in front of him was a human and not food or an object to kill.

DJ had the decency to look a little bashful but Harry glared at him anyway.

"Why would you go in there?! Harry said in a tirade.

"It wasn't that far in!"

"Just tell me! What made you want to be alone and away from the castle especially when there are dementors crawling around the protection barriers? The forest isn't a place for fun!"

DJ gave an exasperated sigh, "You're blowing this way out of proportion, Harry. I'm alright. If I was even in a smidge of danger, I have my magic. The Cullens are within vampire hearing distance. I'll be fine."

"I'm not satisfied. Why did you even go in?"

DJ bit the inside of his cheek for a second before breathing out heavily, "Fine! Come on."

Without another word or explanation, he swung around to walk back into the woods. Harry grabbed the collar of his shirt, yanking him back. It wasn't very gentle but he didn't mean any harm.

"We're not going in there." Harry said firmly. DJ raised his eyebrows, "You wanted to know why I went. I'll show you. It's about the thestrals."

Harry let go of his jacket in surprise and DJ pulled him.

"Thestrals? Why do you want to see them?"

"Because I can." DJ said shortly, but then smiled. "They're not so bad."

Harry frowned but DJ's words registered in his head. He had nothing against thestrals, but the myths about death were mostly against them. The two stepped into the clearing and Harry caught the sight of three large black skeletal horse like creatures. A short blond girl was standing by the youngest animal. She was talking to it.

"Luna can see them too." DJ pointed out unnecessarily.

Luna Lovegood turned around and gave them a slightly vacant half-smile before patting the young thestral's head.

"Hello Harry Potter. How do you know Daniel?" She asked, her voice sounding a little far away.

DJ rolled his eyes at Harry's look of confusion.

"Luna, you know this. Harry's my cousin."

Luna turned again and said, "But you said you're cousin is a blank slate of zero emotions. I assumed you were talking about a Nargle."

DJ turned red. Harry's eyes widened and he glared at him.

"Harry definitely looks human too." Luna continued.

DJ cleared his throat and smiled sheepishly, "That was a joke. I was just joking… I swear, Harry."

Harry took in a deep breath. DJ's joking reminded him of Percy. If they knew each other, they would definitely get on very well. Percy's attitude about Harry's coldness and his own lack of brilliance (as he seemed to think so. Harry knew that Percy was even smarter in several ways.) was one of the reasons why Harry could handle being different, well.

DJ's joke seemed to border a bit on cruel, but Harry took one look at his embarrassment and let it go.

He walked towards Luna giving the girl a nod. She smiled, her blue eyes large and happy.

"It's okay. He'll be back."

Harry stared. "What?"

Luna only smiled. DJ shot Harry a puzzled look and the latter gave one back.

"Luna, who are you talking about?" DJ asked slowly.

She ignored them, giving one of the trees a sharp look as if asking for something. Harry didn't understand her.

She always seemed to be detached from the world, talking about imaginary objects and creatures. She'd stare at people as if prodding into their heads. She would read the magazines, mostly the Quibbler, upside down. May be she was solving puzzles with answers printed at the bottom.

Her aura of Magic was definitely Psychological. Something to do with the subconscious. This, Harry was sure of.

Her blonde hair was long and very well kept. It was a contrast to her dirt ridden feet.

"Why aren't you wearing any shoes?" Harry asked as politely as he could. Luna didn't mind the question and she stood on her toes to kiss the thestral. DJ muttered his view on her action while Harry waited.

"Well, I can't find any. It was rather amusing. One day, I keep all three under my bed. Next, they run away."

"Your shoes ran away?"

"Well, what do you expect? They are shoes. Ginny duplicated her set for me to use during class hours. I like her."

Harry nodded carefully wondering f Luna was being serious about her absconding shoes or whether someone had taken them.

"Have you tried a summoning charm?"

She looked up with an air of interest.

"Summoning charm." Harry repeated, "Just give a small flick and say 'Accio Shoes'. That will work."

Luna gave him a five second look before saying, "I like you too."

* * *

The three walked back to the castle in silence. Luna was humming, though. The tune was slightly melancholic and trance inducing. It actually reminded Harry of his lullaby played from Sally's little ballerina music box. Now, that music was powerful. It could put anyone to sleep.

"You two stay on the bridge and chat. I'll go back to the castle to 'accio' my runaway footwear." Luna said in the middle of her crooning.

They stepped onto the bridge and Harry understood. Close to the other end, there were two forms leaning against the stone railing. One of them had golden hair and Harry new only one person who had that kind of hair.

DJ looked towards Luna, about to ask something but she smiled at them, again, and skipped off ahead, crossing the bridge and onto the grounds.

As they walked nearer, Harry saw Lupin and Rosalie talking in low tones. Then, they looked in the direction of the two Gryffindors.

"Hello boys." Rosalie said warmly. Harry nodded and DJ grinned.

"So. How goes the plan? What has Alice thought about Black?"

Rosalie sighed. Harry noticed a tense expression in her metallic brown eyes. Alice was one of the shorter Cullens. She was the one with spiky black hair and a spunky personality. Her Magic core was to easily interpret possible outcomes of decisions made by… well, nearly every one.

Yeah, like seeing the future.

"Not so good. There are too many variables. Not to mention the damage the damned dementors are causing. Black's not too far away. She still thinks he's close by. Probably in the outer forest, but we've combed the area several times. If he's hiding somewhere near the centaurs' territory, there's no way we'd ever know. I just don't understand how he got in before? How come none of the portraits saw him go all the way upto the Gryffindor Tower? Ghosts? Staff? Us?!"

Rosalie's frustration filled the air and Lupin sighed.

"Rosalie, I told you everything I –"

"I know! I know you did. But even then…"

"What's his Core?" Harry asked suddenly. Rosalie, Lupin and DJ looked at him confused.

"Core Magic? Honestly Harry, I don't think he can connect to it after so many years in Azkaban. But if you must know, it's the ability to bond."

"Aaaaaand, what does _that_ mean?" DJ questioned.

Rosalie put on a mask of indifference, "Well, it's the best I could put it in words. One look at him and you'd feel sorry for him, you'd try to be his friend and make him happy. Ofcourse, I think he could turn it around too."

"In that case, he makes people run away from him?" Harry asked skeptically.

"May be that wasn't the right definition. I can't really say, Harry. You need to be close to him to really understand. I hope that never happens unless his corpse is rotting and you happen to stumble across it."

DJ grimaced and Lupin shot her a frown. Harry wasn't perturbed by the mental image. In fact, it made him feel better.

"Change of topic." Lupin muttered and then plastered a smile on his face, "So, Harry! I hear you play the guitar!"

Harry groaned, "Have you been talking to Rita Skeeter?!"

Rosalie looked alert at that, "You know that lying little cow?"

DJ snorted into his palm while Harry nodded miserably, "She did an article on me last year. I burned every Daily Prophet paper I could get my hands on."

"The fire-place was full of black crisp for days." DJ snickered.

"I've read that one." Lupin said, his good mood vanishing. "It was written that you had declared Lockhart to be your role-model."

DJ burst out laughing. Harry smothered a glare and just fisted his palms.

"I get you." Rosalie said. Then her face brightened, "Shall I tell you the story of how Melody and James got together?"

DJ looked as though it was Christmas, New Year, Hanukkah and Easter all rolled into one.

"That's abrupt." Harry muttered, wishing she would have included his own parents but he didn't interrupt her.

"It involves Lockhart and Skeeter bashing." Rosalie said mischievously.

"I'm game!" DJ exclaimed. Harry looked up, feeling better.

"This was in their sixth year. To everyone's shock, your mother was dating Lockhart."

DJ blanched.

"Yeah, that was kinda our expression when we heard about it. I couldn't understand how a smart Gryffindor like her would ever want to be near a dumb Ravenclaw like him." Rosalie said shaking her head. Her American accent accentuated her disbelief.

"For two months, it was okay. I mean, she was happy. But I still didn't like him. He was even worse than James."

Harry blinked.

"Sorry Harry. You're father was kind of a trouble maker."

Lupin muffled his laughter.

"Anyway, after a while, it turned out that Melody had walked into Lockhart and another girl. Left her heartbroken. Now, I would have been back to Hogwarts to kick his –"

"Gluteus maximus." Lupin interjected.

"But Melody did it. I was so proud of her."

"Oh, cool! Mum kicked his –"

"G. M."

"Yeah, that!"

"Technically, it wasn't his –"

"G. M."

"Merlin! Remus, you never change, do you?"

Lupin shrugged and smiled at her.

Rosalie grinned, "It wasn't actually his G. M. Somewhere sensitive."

Lupin snorted again. Harry stared.

"What does that mean?" DJ asked.

"Oh Merlin, you're twelve aren't you?!"

"Change the topic!"

"Right! Harry, you play the guitar?"

"Er… yeah."

"Good, Lily played it too. She and Melody would play and sing songs during every Gryffindor party." Rosalie said as though she had been there personally. Well, she was a vampire. Who could have stopped her?

"How did my mother sing?" DJ asked curious.

Rosalie and Lupin sighed together.

"She was born to sing. Any other description would not be worthy of her."

DJ was quiet for a while. Harry looked up, "Continue the story. Please."

She smirked and said, "Yeah, well after she showed Lockhart, no one dared to mess with Melody Gritman. Now, your Dad was a slightly quiet guy, kept to himself, his study group, books and of course James. But by seventh year, James and Lily got tired of seeing the both of them mope around so they set up plan. Lily took Melody out to show her a truns plant while James dragged Jacob out to 'cleanse him of his bookish ways'.

"Lily and Melody climbed a tall tree to look at the plant. James placed Jacob right under the tree."

"What happened then?" DJ asked, anxious.

Rosalie just smiled, "The branch Melody was leaning on tilted and she slipped. Lily disappeared immediately. James told Jacob to look up and then he ran away too. What else was there? Jacob caught Melody and they blushed so brilliantly that made Lily and James laugh every time they thought of it."

"What if Dad didn't catch her?"

"Well then Lily would have."

"And where does Rita Skeeter come into the story?"

"Actually a few years after this. Skeeter tried to kiss James at work. Lily found out. The Leaky Cauldron's first muggle fight was when Lily punched Skeeter right in the nose. It was too bad no one had a camera."

Harry's thoughts should have been revolving around this fact but most of them were already engrossed in the moment when Rosalie had said about Lily disappearing. There's no apparition on Hogwarts grounds. His Mum definitely did not have a Familiar to go teleporting. That left just one explanation.  
She travelled through the tree.

Just like Harry had done in Surrey, a few month ago. He became a part of the tree.

Was it possible to travel through trees, as in plural?

"That's what I liked about Lily. She had that spark. It reminded me of her fifteenth birthday. Remus and I bought her gift. Can you guess?"

Harry snapped his neck up. His mother's fifteenth birthday gift? What would a fifteen year old witch like for a gift? A pony?

"The guitar." DJ said smiling.

"Really?" Harry looked up at them. Rosalie and Lupin nodded.

"It was the perfect gift. Custom made against our kind." Lupin said and then he grinned to himself. Harry shot them a curious look. What did that mean?

"I think it's getting late. Daniel, didn't you say you wanted to meet Minerva before dinner?" Rosalie interjected after shooting the man a small vampire glare.

"Oh yeah! I'm supposed hand in that essay, today! Thanks, Aunt Rose!"

DJ took off towards the castle, running at a speed that made him seem as though he was flying over the grass. Harry looked at his diminishing form before turning back to Rosalie.

"What do you know about Mum's Core?"

* * *

That hadn't been entirely helpful. But it did clear some of his doubts. Lily Potter could indeed go right into any plant she preferred. She had once said that it was an exhilarating feeling that made her feel free and unbound to the Earth. Being so deeply involved with your raw magic was one of the best things you could get out of life, was what Rosalie had said.

Harry had been a part of a tree and he had experienced that. Then why couldn't he say that it was the best feeling he'd ever had. What made him different from his mother even if they did share the same Core. Was it in a different way?

Harry frowned to nobody in particular. The hallway he was in was lonely and echoed his footsteps. The silence felt a little ominous. This certain part of the castle was away from the sun and it reflected his mood.

It reminded Harry of what happened on the train. The two second silence before the dementor came in and tried to suck out his soul. He should have known something very bad was going to happen. The moment the train had stopped right on the curved bridged, raging waters a hundred feet below. The dark drizzle from the clouds that hid the sun. The signs were there and Harry had ignored them. His consciousness was dwindling.

He had to start practicing. To get his reflexes hyped up for the future.

Harry stopped walking. There was a small sound of feet shuffling from somewhere. He was alone in the corridor but the sound was very much there. Harry stepped forwards as silently as he could, taking out his wand and flipping his dagger into his left palm. Gripping it defensively, he held the wand up ready to face the invisible noise maker.

He held his breathe and pressed his back to the wall, slowly peaking around the corner. He saw a short figure in a red jacket and faded jeans. The same one he had come across on his way to Hagrid's. He lowered his defense a little. There was a smell of smoke n the air and Harry flipped in his dagger.

"Hey, mate, you okay?" He called out unsure. He could have just walked away, but the fresh looking red jacket reminded him of DJ and it contrasted with the pale blue jeans violently. The kid was a signal for everyone to stop and stare at him.

The person froze and whipped around to face Harry who gave a start. It wasn't a bloke.

"Girls are always alright when a boy calls them 'mate'!" Ginny snapped, her eyes flashing; her bright red hair, covered by the hood. Harry bit back a retort as he realized that DJ must have given the jacket to her as a gift. It was definitely custom made. Designed to withstand the cold of the dementors, too.

"Uh… sorry, I guess…"

She didn't say anything but was kind enough to give him a glare. Harry frowned.

"What's wrong?"

" 'What's wrong?' he asks. You'd think with all that brain cells, he'd get it, but noooooo…"

"Ginny? What – "

She muttered something and turned towards the other direction, walking away from him. Harry felt irritated at not understanding the situation.

"Seriously! What the hell –"

"Will everyone please stop worrying about me?!" She shouted spinning on her heel to glower at him.

"Well, if you keep acting irrationally –"

"No offense, but I have the right to behave however I want! Anyway, you should know this! You better than anyone else!"

Harry stopped, startled at her tone. "Know what?"

Ginny leaned her weight on one foot and tilted her head. "You want me to spell it out? Fine! But if you ever tell anyone, I swear to Merlin, that you'd be found in ashes decades later!"

Harry blinked. "That's an amazing threat."

She gave him a sneer, "Wow, your defense mechanism is acting cold and using sarcasm? I would've expected something more original…"

"Talk sense!"

"I'm saying that different people cope with the shit in their life, differently!" She yelled.

Right, now she really was veering off course. Harry gave her a long look but still couldn't find the reason for him being the trigger to her anger. And she was definitely angry. He could see sparks and occasional spurts of flames erupt in her hair and die out. He wondered if the jacket would catch on fire if she burst to flames.

"Okay." Harry said slowly, using a low voice. Get her temper down before she really does burst into flames. "Ginny, do… do you want to talk about it?"

She frowned, looking taken aback as if the question wasn't what she had expected. "No. Bye."

Well, at least she had the decency to bid him farewell. Although, Harry wasn't sure what made him call her.

"Wait! Just before you go and torch a corner –"

"What's it to you if I do torch a corner?"

"Well, it'll give me relief finding out what's wrong with you." Harry said bluntly observing her reaction. He could have sworn he saw flames in her eyes.

" 'Wrong with me'? Oh, okay. That's real. You want to know what's wrong with me. Why don't we start with the fact that I'm going through something that you are going through too?" She threw her words at him as if firing a gun.

"Going through… I'm not –"

"Oh please! Anyone with an ounce of intelligence can see that you've been through something. You just haven't recovered."

Harry froze. _Been through something_. The way she said it, it was like she knew. But she couldn't! She was four when it happened. No one knew anything about that cursed Halloween except for him and the dead.

But Ginny had locked her gaze with his and he realized that she knew something.

"I thought we were talking about you." Harry said, his voice going cold. She raised her eyebrows, not looking intimidated at all, unlike everyone else he had met.

"Harry." She said. He noted that this was one of the very few times she had actually called him by name.

"You can't fool me. It's clear. Something happened. Doesn't matter that you aren't telling anyone, because one day, it'll burst out and you'll regret it. I honestly don't know what it was, but a secret like that cannot be kept in your head. You'll never get cured because the memory is a like a curse that will take over your head, poisoning every thought. Admit it. You're lost, Harry."

Harry felt as though someone had pushed him into freezing black water. The cold stabbed like knives everywhere and he couldn't breathe. For one wild second, he felt completely out of control.

Out of his reach, Ginny turned around, her expression smug. He knew that she was smirking because she had understood something no one else did, for more than eight years. He felt a rush of anger and in his haste, the next words stumbled out of his mouth without his permission.

"That's a lot of hypocrisy, seeing that you're just as lost as I am because of what happened last year!"

Ginny stopped walking too. Her posture becoming rigid as if she had been doused in water too.

Harry realized his mistake a second too late.

He shouldn't have pushed her.

Ginny spun around again, but unlike last time, she had a ball of fire hovering two inches above her right palm. Harry stared and then started backing off.

He had just tickled a sleeping dragon and now, it was _not_ happy.

Harry dropped to the ground, just in time to avoid the blast of fire that hit the wall behind him. Heat surged through his jacket and he thought he really was burning. He did a quick roll and jumped up to his feet half wondering if he should conjure up a shield if he knew only the theory.

The next two fire balls had him running around the corridors.

"Ginny! Be reasonable!"

A suit of armour was hit and it melted.

"Really, there's no need for this drama!"

A window cracked as it became the next victim.

Harry aimed his wand at her and changed his mind about the shield.

"_Aguamenti!"_

A wave of water washed over her and her gasp was drowned in a loud hissing as steam came from her. When it subsided, a drenched Ginny glared at Harry as if wishing she could make him explode with her mind alone.

Her facial expression made him think of the phrase, 'If looks could kill…'

She shrieked something at him which he thought was very uncouth, coming from a twelve year old girl. More steam arose as she stomped away.

* * *

**A couple more chapters, people!**

**(Haven't done this in a while) Q: In the canon version, what is similar between Harry and Ginny that first attracted him to her subconsciously?**

**Stay tuned for the turn!**

**Cabba.**


	8. Found part of a Family

**This is a kind of a long filler chapter to explain some things. **

**Answer: Canon versions of Harry and Ginny have a similar sense of humour which is slightly morbid at times. That what he liked about her.**

**Listening to – Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the original works of JKR, RR and SM. This is fanfiction and any copyright infringement is not intended.**

**Words –3934**

* * *

DJ wrinkled his nose as a horrible smell of burning hair wafted through the Common Room, when he entered. He looked around to see very few people. A couple of fifth-years engrossed in their books, a few girls giggling and reading the Witch Weekly, Harry sitting on the couch with a tome in another language and Bolt and Crookshanks playing chess.

DJ stopped short staring at the chess match. Both animals were quietly staring at the board. Then Crookshanks leaned in and moved his pawn two steps forwards. Bolt let out a growl and bent her head closer, listening to the suggestions from her minister.

"Harry?" DJ asked, not able to take his eyes from the match. The smell of burnt hair was re-inforced when Harry looked up.

"Yes?"

"Why is your hair smoking?"

Harry clutched his book harder and said in a tight voice, "I tickled a sleeping dragon."

DJ's eyes bulged. Bolt gave a bark and moved her queen to the right by seven steps.

"Um…Harry?"

"Yes?"

"… n… never mind. What language is that anyway?" DJ sat down on the carpet, closer to the fireplace.

"Egyptian."

"Why?"

"The civilization of North East Africa needed to devise a vocal communication system just like every other being on the planet and the ancient dwellers of Egypt formulated Egyptian. The language is now, of course, evolved to a more modern form through the centuries… maybe that's why this isn't making much sense." Harry started mumbling and laid down the large book. DJ saw a smaller red covered book in his hands.

"No… no, I meant, why are you reading Egyptian?"

Harry looked up with a shrug, "I'm learning it actually. I'm done with last year's, so this is a new one for 2007. Ron sent some sayings and tourist attraction treasure myths with English translations, but it's better to read the language. I self-translated half of this…" Harry trailed off as he dove into the large book again.

DJ smiled and shook his head. Harry was weird. Liking different things… It was then he realized that Harry was wearing his jacket on the red side. DJ grinned. Turning towards the chess-players, he asked, "So, who's winning?"

Crookshanks let out a purr and DJ laughed. Bolt growled and pushed her knight towards the kneazle's castle.

DJ watched the rest of the match and modestly clapped for Crookshanks, incase Ron entered the Common Room. Most boys were alerted to keep Hermione's pet away from Ron unless they wanted the tower to be destroyed.

Bolt gave a 'humph!' and leapt onto Harry's shoulder, the latter barely acknowledging her. Crookshanks gave her a two-second stare before snarling and jumping on him too. Harry jerked as both animals started swiping at each other over his head. Bolt let out a real howl of anger and she launched herself at the hissing and spitting little 'tiger.'

The fifth-years stared before two of them, DJ realized with a start, the Weasely Twins, raised their wands at the fighting animals. Harry winced and swore trying to grab them and was nearly hit by the spells.

"HEY!"

"Sorry, Harry. But if you could stand still for a moment…"

Harry glared at the wall and lowered his hands, Crookshanks and Bolt warring each other. Red beams of light hit them and they were thrown off into the corner of the room.

Bolt roared and changed forms.

Nearly everyone in the room stepped back in horror as a massive golden haired wolf stood before them, panting and growling at the tiny cowering Crookshanks who had taken refuge underneath a table at the other end of the room.

Bolt looked quite out of control. DJ saw Harry's eyes grow wide as he stared at his own familiar who looked ready to attack him. For a moment, DJ couldn't move, fear paralyzing his body, but then he fisted his palms and wrenched himself backwards, with a step. Harry was now closest to the large wolf who was a head shorter that him.

"Bolt? I need you to calm down, now." Harry said carefully and firmly. His voice was cool and the silence after that was punctuated by just her growls.

Harry walked forwards, slowly. Bolt snapped her head towards him, baring her teeth. Harry glared at her.

For a while they just scowled at each other before Bolt let out a whine and bounded up the boy's staircase. Harry sighed and rubbed his head viciously.

"Sorry about that. She's just two and half. Crookshanks, just don't come anywhere near our dorms."

The others relaxed a little. Fred muttered about dogs and cats and some of them chuckled. Crookshanks snuck up the girl's stairs, looking thoroughly abashed.

Harry gathered his books and went up too. DJ let out a sigh and sank into the coziest armchair he could find.

That had been a nice mini-adventure. Harry's familiar was formerly a puppy, then a dog, then a kitten and now a wolf. May be it would become a dragon next.

That made the boy think about Harry tickling a dragon. He was pretty sure there were no dragons in or around Hogwarts. They were illegal to be bred in Scotland, right? Where would Harry have found one? And really? Tickling?

For some reason DJ could see that happening!

* * *

The little pink flower was safely tucked away into his pocket. Harry wasn't sure how exactly it had started to grow, especially with the dementors, but the lucky part was that Harry had picked it off carefully before any person or animal had come across it.

The lonely little flower gave an impression of sulking even by staying extremely still by his side. Harry gave it a skeptic look before turning to his guitar.

It was B minor. Harry was sure of it. The tune was slow and the third part needed a B minor to make the music flow into the next set.

He walked slowly towards the window of the seventh floor dorm corridor. Swinging the guitar on his back, with the strap fixed over his right shoulder, Harry swung up the ledge and onto the flat landing of the tower. He looked up at the slightly bright sky with few clouds and took in a deep breath of fresh air.

The smell of smoke hit his nose and he jerked a little. Harry leaned forwards. More than a hundred feet below him was tall thick grass. The air was cold but fresh. There wasn't a fire in sight but he had definitely smelt a hint of strange sweet smoke.

Harry sat there for a few seconds breathing in waiting for the scent again, but it disappeared soon and he relaxed. Not being distracted now, he swung his guitar back to the front and strung the strings together before opening his book.

The slow music was calming and he leaned back, giving the notes his full attention.

It was nearly sunset. Bolt was still on his bed, taking up the entire space in her wolf form. She was becoming even more powerful. Harry wondered how Dumbledore had taken care of his phoenix, Fawkes when they were younger. That had been at least a century ago. There had to have been a lot of pressure on the Headmaster for being attached to a familiar in those ages.

Closing his eyes, Harry tried not to think of anything else other than the music. The serenity felt perfect and Harry would have liked to not move for a long time, but then, he smelt it again.

His head snapped up as he looked around the grounds. There was the sweet smoky smell. It reminded him of wild orchids. Staying absolutely still, he continued stringing his guitar as he turned his head in every direction he could. The smell was slightly strong, so it couldn't originate from the grounds. It was somewhere closer. It couldn't come from within the tower. The window was connected to the corridor of the boys' dorms. No boy would have cologne like that.

Not thinking of the fact that he himself smelt of oranges, Harry set down the guitar and carefully stood up. The flat edge was about three feet long. Placing his hand on the slope, Harry walked as silently as he could around the tower cone. Two seconds later, he looked down at the girl startled.

Like him, she had been sitting on the other side of the flat edge, her arms around her knees. Ginny glared up at him as usual.

"I was gonna kick you out from _my_ place, but I didn't from the goodness of my heart." She said, looking back at the scenery.

Harry was reminded of how Uncle Vernon would say that the Dursleys only took him in from the goodness of their hearts. He didn't like her words at all.

"This is _my_ place." Harry said carefully.

Ginny looked up and frowned. "I've been coming here for nearly a year. I never saw you."

Harry shrugged, "That may be, but I've been coming here since my first year. I win. Go back."

She didn't move, "How would I know that you aren't lying?"

"You don't. But neither do I, in your case."

She did say anything. Harry gave her a hard look before realizing something.

"You liked the music."

"Did not. It was terrible."

"Terribly good, you mean. Admit it." Harry couldn't help but boast, especially when he saw her cheeks turn a faint red.

"I wouldn't lie."

"You would."

"You're horrible with music."

"I've been playing the guitar for a few years. I'm actually very good at it."

"Doesn't seem like it."

"You're just jealous."

He looked at her in triumph when she glared at him. Then she stood up, not caring that they were nearly ten stories off the ground.

"What makes you think you're better?"

Harry shrugged again, "I have talent. I'm good at nearly everything, with a little practice."

She shook her head. "How does the Hogwarts cap even fit on your head? Isn't it too big?"

"The hat isn't big." Harry said purposely skipping over her snide comment. "By the way, how did you get here?"

She raised her eyebrows and said, "Same way you did."

Harry frowned. Girls weren't allowed into the boys' dorms, right? But then Hermione had been in there last year to help Harry wake Ron up, not that he needed help. May be Ginny had gone to talk to Percy, her brother who was the Head Boy, his room being on the seventh landing of the tower, right opposite the seventh years' room.

"Are you afraid of heights?" Harry asked, pointedly edging towards the end of the roof. Ginny gave a look down and said, "Not if you're the one losing his balance and falling."

Her innocent little tone made him glare at her. He turned around, grabbed his guitar and book, ignoring her till he was done and left.

* * *

It was a slight shock when Harry entered the Common Room and saw Ron and Hermione sitting together on the long couch. She had tears in her eyes and Ron was quietly reading a letter. After weeks of fighting, this was out of the ordinary. Crookshanks was nowhere to be seen and Harry assumed that Bolt was still asleep.

Hermione sniffed as she saw Harry. She nudged Ron who looked up, his expression quite serious. He silently held out the letter which Harry noticed was written in a horrible scrawl with splashes of, he guessed, tears across the parchment.

Buckbeak was to be executed at sun down.

A flash of anger went through Harry's system. Some of was directed at Draco Malfoy. Harry thought that the blonde had decided to help him at the end of their first year, but then something had changed and Malfoy had become even more unsufferable, even taunting him at the hopeless Quidditch match where the dementors had crashed in, the classes of Care of Magical Creatures, where most were held in the forest (even then Malfoy was stupid enough to gloat about Harry's infamous 'fear' of the blasted hooded creatures.)

Most of his rage, though, was explicitly towards the Ministry of Magic, which was turning out to be even more corrupt than Harry had realized.

"Today!" Ron burst out, standing up, "They're going to kill him today because a git ignored a teacher's warnings! Hagrid had told us to respect hippogriffs, Malfoy went and insulted Buckbeak! If I get my hands on that bas–"

"Ron! It's no use! Shouting won't do anything!" Hermione interrupted.

Harry thought that Ron was going to start again, but he didn't. Ron simply grunted and said, "Reckon anyone'll miss the spoilt brat?"

"Ron!"

"Let's go!" Harry said suddenly, pocketing the letter into his jacket and leaning his guitar by the side of the fireplace. "We'll meet Hagrid. At least stay by him."

Ron dropped his bag immediately and Hermione rubbed her face before they left together.

* * *

The trio was silent, except for the sound of Harry's nail striking his lucky knut. Rona and Hermione were quiet and it reminded Harry that it had been a while since all three of them were together. He had missed it. Missed discussing academic work, talking about Percy Jackson, about strange things they saw around the castle. Harry had realized that the two people walking by him meant more than just friends.

He remembered in his first year. How close the three of them were? Relying on each other to solve the mystery, there had been a rush of adrenaline when they did these things together. Harry had internally considered them his best friends. He hadn't said this to them, though. Neither of them did. May be they knew too.

His thoughts were gone when they crossed the bridge and saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle standing at the top of the small plateau, snickering at Hagrid and Buckbeak.

* * *

Buckbeak looked calm and sleepy. Harry and Ron walked behind Hermione, whose fists were still clenched. They could feel her fury radiating from her, even though she had had a go at Malfoy. The blonde deserved the shiner he was going to have. The boys' respect for her raised a few notches higher.

She walked up to Buckbeak and gave a bow. He looked up lazily, replied with his own and laid his head on a squashed pumpkin. Harry let it slide.

Hermione rubbed his back feathers somberly and Buckbeak let out a small whine.

Ron looked up at Hagrid's window, "I smell rock cakes. I –"

The door to the hut swung open and Hagrid stepped out. A look of surprise flitted across his face before he glared at them.

* * *

Harry should have seen it coming. He should have felt something. But he didn't react when Hagrid had suddenly revealed that Scabbers was alive and well. The rat still looked skinny and terrified at the sight of the trio, but he was still alive. Harry didn't realize a change in the air when Ron and Hermione had started bickering about their animals again.

But he definitely felt it when a soft whistle of something flying towards him was heard.

Harry jerked his head back and caught the tiny seed of a pumpkin, specifically, Hagrid's pumpkin. That had been thrown at him. He quickly looked out the window to see if it was Malfoy who had thrown it. But Hermione had clearly scared them off. It was obviously someone else.

A patch of black disappeared from the top of one the pumpkins but then Ron's voice interrupted him.

"Whoa, Harry what –"

"I thought I just saw…" Harry trailed of, frowning at the pumpkins. He was about to connect to his Core to feel the intruder's presence, but something else caught his eye.

Harry stared at the top of the steep hill. Dumbledore, Fudge and the executioner were slowly ambling towards the hut.

"They're early!" Harry hissed. It wasn't sunset, yet!

"Oh no. Not good. If they see that you're 'ere, you'll all be in big trouble! Especially you, Harry! Go now!"

"We're not leaving, Hagrid!" Hermione said, her voice going a little shrill.

Hagrid shook his head furiously and pushed Ron as gently as he could. Ron and Hermione stumbled a little and blushed. Hagrid dragged Harry by his jacket hood and sent the three of them into the small room inside. Another large door was attached there.

Harry, Ron and Hermione crouched behind the crate of lazy flobberworms, holding their breaths. When the main door opened and Dumbledore's voice talking about strawberry gardens was heard, Hermione carefully pushed the second door as silently as possible. It swung open and Ron stepped out to see if the three men were in vicinity.

Hagrid's large knuckled came into view as it signaled for them to leave. The three of them immediately left, Harry closing the door carefully.

Hermione called him over and they ran to hide behind the pumpkins which were large enough to easily hide them. Harry stared at the pumpkins, thinking about what he had seen before. It could've been a crow. There were hundreds of them flying and cawing above them in the sky.

"Hagrid can't stall them for long. Let's go." Ron hissed, as he struggled to keep a firm grasp on Scabbers who was starting to squeal louder.

* * *

It happened so fast. Scabbers, Crookshanks, Bolt and then the dog which looked like the Grim. The same dog Harry had seen outside the Crescent Park in Surrey.

Then the Whomping Tree which wouldn't listen to Harry at all, tried to smash him and Hermione. That had been invigorating.

Crookshanks and Bolt were fighting again, even after the four of them finally got into the tunnel.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione hissed and yanked her large pet away from Bolt who was now firmly in Harry's grip.

"What the hell is going on?" Harry asked, angrily. Apparently the animals knew more than the people. Ron was nowhere to be seen. That dog was going to be neutered…

"_No_!" Bolt shouted to Harry. "_Listen!"_

* * *

The night was over. It was two in the morning and the Hospital Wing was buzzing with activity.

Harry's mind was reeling. Time-traveling, though felt easier than flooing, was hectic on his head since he and DJ felt a little dizzy.

It was amazing. Buckbeak wasn't really dead. Crookshanks didn't want to eat Scabbers. Bolt never hated Crookshanks. Hermione never skipped classes. DJ and Hermione didn't pass out when their Core magic exploded against Lupin, Snape and each other (No, they just fainted). Lupin was not human. Black never was guilty.

Buckbeak was hiding out between the thestrals. Crookshanks wanted to get Scabbers to Black. Bolt wanted to hide the truth from Harry until Black got solid evidence. Hermione had a time-turner. Her Core magic was Earth. DJ's Core magic was Air. Lupin was a werewolf. Black was never guilty.

One out of seven. Harry thought. He had figured out the werewolf part. But he had been as lost as the rest of the world, concerning on the others.

Ron's leg still had the mark of being deeply bitten by Black's animagus form. He was the one who realized that they had to move away from the edge of the forest when he felt the lake freezing up. Even with a broken leg, he managed to wake DJ up and get the group away from the swarm of dementors. It would've worked if Snape hadn't interfered and ruined the getaway.

Harry had almost lost it when at least ten of the vile creatures converged and cornered his Godfather. He would have probably exploded if a silvery glowing stag hadn't driven the non-beings away.

Of course, he found out in the future that he had saved everyone.

He could've kissed the time-turner. In fact he had to yet give it back to Hermione.

Harry turned his head. He sat up a little on his bed and looked around the dimly lit area. Ron, Hermione and DJ were asleep. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Poppy and one of the blonde Cullens were talking to Black on the other side of the Hospital Wing. A few other Cullens were in Poppy's office (Harry could see their silhouettes).

DJ shouldn't have been there. Harry knew that DJ had been curious and depressed about something for the past few weeks. He had been lurking around the castle, even skipping a few classes. Whatever was troubling the boy, Harry had to find out.

When DJ was already near the Whomping Willow, when the strange party of the trio and three animals had made their appearance, things had nearly escalated out of control.

Reaching over, to take a small slab of chocolate, Harry had honestly tried to be as silent as possible. But then, one of the Cullens turned around to look at him curiously from the office. She had long dark brown hair, which reminded him of the colour of his guitar. Her eyes were a dark topaz shade, not the metallic brown her family had been sporting around the castle. Perhaps, the charm had worn out.

She gave him a small smile before turning around and muttering something. Rosalie stepped out a second later and walked up to him.

"Harry, are you feeling better?" She whispered, so that the others wouldn't be interrupted.

Harry bit into the chocolate and nodded.

"It's amazing how much a twenty minute nap can do to your health." He muttered. Rosalie cracked a smile.

"It's actually been more than an hour. May be you should have some Dreamless Sleep potion?"

Harry shook his head. He had already had quite a bit of that potion since last year. He didn't want to overdose on it when he was just thirteen.

Rosalie gave him a comforting look and said, "Well, it wouldn't do you any good if you sleep through a bright tomorrow. I guarantee that the morning will bring in a big change in our world."

Harry turned to look at Sirius Black. The man looked nothing like the old photographs, DJ and he had. The young version was extremely carefree, good looking and possessed a happy-go-lucky expression.

The Azkaban version was a mentally tortured man, who's only will to survive had been to survive for someone else.

One misunderstanding changed so much. One mistake in understanding the sequence of scenes more than twelve years ago.

One rat that deserved to be eaten by a kneazle, spit out and have its insides used in potions and then thrown towards a dementor.

The punishment didn't seem enough. Peter Pettigrew had destroyed the lives of three small families, out of which the sons survived. Longbottoms' and both Potter brothers'.

Harry heard Rosalie let out a small growl as he watched her glare at a small enchanted cage which held a terrified rat. Wormtail was squeaking noiselessly, scurrying around trying to escape. Harry was glad there was a silencing charm on him. The temptation to strangle the rat every time it might have squeaked was too great. He gave a sigh and looked back at Rosalie, nodded. He pushed himself down and lay down.

Rosalie smiled softly and said, "It's gonna be a field day. What with Hermione and Daniel and Sirius… I just hope we're ready for it."

He nodded again and closed his eyes. Just before he dozed off there was a singular moment when one of his thoughts was entirely wiped out by an unseen force.

Harry would have no knowledge of it for the next few years.

* * *

**Like I said, more of a filler. The next chapter is the last! Stay tuned!**

**Q: According to the PJO books, how old is Percy Jackson now?**

**Cabba.**


	9. Found the rest

**Answer: Percy is 21 years old as of 18****th**** August, 2013! And Harry is 33 having crossed 31****st**** July, 2013! It's a twelve year difference!**

**Listening to – 'To have a Home' by StarKid Productions**

**Warning – Swearing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Twilight and Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Any copyright infringement is not intended.**

**Words –5982**

* * *

Once most of the hubbub had died down, Harry and DJ spent quite a lot of time getting to know Sirius Black. Having been cleared of all charges within two weeks of Wormtail's capture, the Wizarding World was still dubious. To make sure that Sirius was fast on his very long way to recovery, time schedules for him to spend in St. Mungo's, open Hogwarts grounds and close friends were made.

During school and exams, Sirius spent the weekends at Hogwarts where Harry and DJ crammed for just an hour around midnight after spending the entire day with him, Professor Lupin and some of the Cullens.

Half the vampire family had left for a house somewhere in the British country. Rosalie, Alice, a short woman with black spiky hair and Emmett, Rosalie's tall and built husband, stayed back. The older couple, Carlisle and his wife Esme too visited Sirius at times.

The last exam for Harry was Divination. Ron had the same. Hermione had Muggle Studies while DJ and Ginny had Potions. Practicals were held after theory and the amount of tension had built up so much, during the weeks that even Fred and George were seen with thick books, studying for their OWLs. That had had been slightly strange to see, even Harry admitted.

"This random roll calling is not good." Ron muttered as Trelawney called, "Patil!" from her classroom. Parvati stood up, took a deep breath and walked up the silver staircase through the trapdoor, from which Neville had just exited.

"Hey, Nev. How was it?"

Neville was sweating as he turned towards them, "I can't say. She said there's a bad omen waiting for me if I say anything about the exam."

Harry simply banged his head against the wall behind him, making all the nervous students jump.

"She's probably saying that to keep us all guessing." Ron said. "Why couldn't we just have followed Hermione when she had walked out?"

Harry gave a grunt wishing he had done that, but sitting on the bench waiting for the last exam wasn't the time to think of quitting. May be next year. He'd have to switch. He was good at most subjects, it wouldn't be tough.

"Ginny says she's horrible in Potions. I don't doubt her. I'm just waiting to hear a blast from the dungeons… I still don't know why Hermione took Muggle Studies. I mean, she doesn't have the turner anymore, but she's still taking all the exams." Ron said.

Harry's mind slipped into a three minute slumber before Lavender's name was called.

After she came back, Trelawney called, "Weasely!"

Ron jumped up as if there had been an explosion of food. Lavender flinched and said, "Er…good luck, Ron!"

"Yeah…" Ron shared a glance with Harry before trudging up the stairs.

Harry sighed. It figures, he thought glumly. He'd be the last.

_Done with the exams?,_ Bolt's voice called out unexpectedly in his head. He ignored her like he had been doing for the past two weeks.

Harry wasn't happy with his familiar at all. She had intentionally kept something from him. If she had said anything about Sirius Black being innocent or she keeping secrets for him, they might have been able to catch Pettigrew earlier.

_Harry, I didn't want you to act irrationally._

Irrationally was not Harry. He wasn't irrational. When was he ever irrational? He had always kept a level head. He thought thrice before jumping. Harry's middle name was 'rational'. (No, not 'trouble'.)

_We'll talk after the exam. Are you going to pretend about the crystal ball or tea cup?_

Harry wouldn't lie. Not to anyone. No pretending for him.

Bolt gave a sigh and whispered a 'good luck' to him leaving his mind. When he was alone, Harry's shoulders slumped.

He actually did feel alone.

"Potter!" Trelawney's voice made him sit up straight and he saw, Ron climb down with a forlorn expression.

"I saw _something_. I don't think she believed me. Whatever, good luck, mate."

Harry nodded and went up to the classroom.

The sweet smoke assaulted his senses immediately and Harry did his best to avoid the smell. Honestly, couldn't she keep the room clear especially on exam days? Did she think the students could concentrate with a mini fog in the room?

"Take your time and tell me what you see." She said, smiling. Her green eyes glittered like that of a large insect behind her thick glasses. It made Harry think of getting rid of his own glasses.

He sat down on the soft chair, after removing the pink cushion from it. The crystal ball in front of him had white smoke and he stared at it for a few seconds before thinking, _This is stupid_.

Bolt's voice didn't come back into his head. Harry pressed his lips together before he actually did see something.

There was a movement in the crystal ball. The fog turned greenish and it reminded him of a forest. Blurry forms of trees came into view. Between them, he saw what looked like a river of sorts. His thoughts immediately went to the Surrey forest. The more he remembered what the forest looked like, the more similarities he could see.

"I… I see a forest." Harry said hesitantly. Was this something he was supposed to tell someone? What if the sight was meant just for him?

Trelawney started scribbling viciously in her notepad. The action reminded Harry of Rita Skeeter.

"A forest! Yes, good. What else?"

Harry frowned and looked into the crystal ball again. He hoped it wouldn't shatter. Ron and Hermione had said they had seen two people in a forest before it seemingly exploded and cut Harry's hand, weeks ago.

As he thought about it, the vision looked clearer and he saw someone standing in the path of the river. The shocking thing was the person.

He'd recognize that jacket anywhere.

"I see myself!" He said in surprise.

Trelawney looked excited as she nodded happily. "Excellent! What are you doing?"

Harry grimaced. It looked as though this version of him was simply standing and staring at something. And then the Harry in the crystal ball took out his dagger and wand and advanced forwards.

The vision disappeared.

Harry blinked.

"What else?" She urged him. Harry shook his head.

She gave him a long look before nodding. "Well, I'm sure you did your best. Not to worry… you may leave."

He could hear the disappointment in her voice, but he wasn't too concerned. He had actually seen something. Didn't Ron say he had seen something too?

May be someone had enchanted the crystal to make sure that everyone saw something or the other.

Harry had just stood up to leave before there was a clattering sound and a gasp.

He spun around to see the note pad and quill on the ground. Trelawney shook for a second before looking up at him with a blank expression. Her green eyes seemed to glow bright and she rasped in a horrible voice, "SOON!"

"What?" Harry asked staring at her. "Professor…?"

She leaped forwards and grabbed his hand. Harry flinched, about to push her off but her next words froze him.

"BROTHERS OF DESTINY, RULED BY PROPHECIES!"

She gave a shudder and Harry was about to yank his hand way, when she continued.

"THERE,… THE CHILDREN OF THE DARK NIGHT HAVE THEIR DWELLINGS – SLEEP AND DEATH, HIS BROTHER… THE SUN NEVER SHINES UPON THESE TWO. SLEEP MAY ROAM …OVER THE WIDE EARTH, AND COME UPON THE SEA,… AND HE IS KINDLY TO MEN. BUT DEATH IS NOT KINDLY,… AND WHOEVER HE SEIZES UPON, HIM HE HOLDS FAST."

Trelawney gave a gasp and fell back on her chair. She looked down blankly and picked up her fallen items. Looking up, she seemed startled to see Harry staring at her in shock.

"Are you alright, Harry?" She asked confused.

_No_, Harry thought. What the hell had she just said?

"You don't look too well, child. Is everything okay?"

Harry couldn't move. _She doesn't remember_. She gave a speech about _sleep_ and _death_ and she didn't know what she had said. She didn't even know she said something!

Harry steeled himself and said, "No…I mean, I'm fine! But you just said about children and brothers and prophecies and… and about destiny –"

"Excuse me!" She looked taken aback. "I don't know what is happening, but I can assure you, I said no such thing!"

Harry's jaw was slack as it dawned upon him that she really had no recollection what had happened. He closed his mouth and nodded stiffly, "Good day, Professor."

She seemed more satisfied and acknowledged him back.

Harry walked as calmly as he could down the stairs before running away from the Divination tower at top speed.

* * *

Ron and Hermione hadn't understood a thing when Harry burst into the Common Room and started talking so fast, his words slurring with Spanish, French and even Chinese curses.

Hermione flinched at the French before saying, "Harry! Stop! Sit! Calm down and talk slowly."

Harry felt angry at himself. Why did he have to run to them? Couldn't he have just kept quiet? It hadn't made any sense whatsoever…

"Actually, I'm fine…" he started, his voice sounding weak.

A snort was heard and the trio turned around to see Ginny huddled in the corner, near the fireplace. She smirked at Harry who glared at her.

"Yeah, the cyclone barges in ready to bring chaos but then settles down to have tea." She said nonchalantly, turning back to a book in her hands.

Harry knew what was bothering her. She had been acting indifferent to a lot of people, since DJ and Hermione connected to their Core Magic.

And now, there was Ron, Ginny, Hermione and DJ forming the Elemental Circle of the 'First Four.'

Most of the articles being published every day were centered around them and how the end was nearing because of four kids.

Ron fumed every time he picked up the newspaper. Ginny simply glared at everyone who even touched an article or talked about it. Hermione ignored all the rumours and gossips.

DJ seemed to be the only one who was basking in the spotlight. He had been depressed how his Core, Air, would not let him be eligible for Quidditch, but he kept making sure that there were high winds every evening when people tried to relax outside. The effort usually tired him out and not more than once was he found sleeping in the grass.

Soon the four of them had tried to focus on the exams (even Ron). Ginny had found a way to relax too. And she found a way to rile up anyone she had a chance to.

"Unlike the manticore who wonders why everyone runs away from her." Harry said as innocently as he could. He felt smug when he saw her cheeks turn red. She wrinkled her nose at him and purposely turned away.

"Harry…" Hermione said with a sigh.

Ron simply rolled his eyes. But then he added, "So, what's wrong?"

Harry sighed, "You know what? It was nothing… I just freaked out –" Harry started towards the staircase, but Ron shot up.

"_You_ got freaked out?! By what? Did you see another you?"

"Ron!" Hermione hissed whipping her head to see if anyone had heard. If they did they didn't bother at all. Harry went up the stairs but Ron caught up to him.

"Hey, Harry. Come on, buddy. You can tell us."

Harry hesitated. On one hand, Trelawney's words seemed too vague to actually throw up a fuss about. On the other, the way she had shivered and spoke in a ghostly double edged voice, it was without a doubt that Harry knew that it was some higher power.

Something which sounded like Mum would know about.

But she wasn't here. No, she was in New York. (Or so he thought.) But he didn't really have anyone to tell, right?

Harry turned to look down at Ron and Hermione and let out a breath of defeat.

"I…well, I saw… " Harry wondered if he should tell them about the crystal ball but then switched tones, "Trelawney went weird."

"Weirder, you mean?" Ron asked.

"Well… yes. But this was even worse."

* * *

It hadn't helped much. Ron and Hermione didn't know anything about prophecies which didn't sound much like prophecies. Hermione was certain that it had felt not too unfamiliar to her, as if she had heard something about it. She had promised to find out more and tell him later.

Ron simply said that it might have been an impressive end to the test.

But he also said about what he had seen in the crystal ball.

_A dried up river. _Ron had not liked that sight.

It made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand on end. The both of them had seen rivers. Ron had said that there was no water, but Harry hadn't focused on that part of the vision. No, he had been standing in the water bed… or was he standing over the river?

Harry shook his head. Don't think about that now. DJ's probably already in the Hospital Wing with Sirius and Professor Lupin.

He entered the place and saw his cousin sitting at the seat of the Sirius' bed.

They looked towards him and smiled.

Harry noticed that some colour came back into the man's sunken face. There was a wasted beauty in his features. As though, Azkaban had literally sucked out his health and magic.

St. Mungo's had sent Madam Pomfrey a list of other reputed healers who specialize in re-strengthening of a wizard's magic. Two of them were in France, another healer was in East Asia.

Sirius had to do some travelling. But the man was looking forward to it.

"Hello! How was the exam?" Sirius said as brightly as he could.

Harry nodded and pulled a chair towards the bed to sit down. "Divination's Divination. I'm planning to drop it."

DJ shook his head, "But Ron said that you can make-believe stuff. It's full marks with a little pretending."

"That the reason why I took it." Sirius said. DJ snorted.

"But it's a waste of time!"

"For each his own. What would you prefer?" The man said sitting up and wincing.

"You want another pillow?"

"No, no. It's fine. "

Harry pressed his lips together and frowned, "Haven't thought about a back up subject. I'll let you know."

Sirius smiled. DJ cleared his throat a little. It was subtle. Harry frowned at his cousin and then looked towards his godfather.

"Right." Sirius said. "Daniel had an idea –"

The boy cleared his throat again.

"Sorry. _DJ_ had an idea about visiting some old family members."

Harry stared at the two trying to see where it was going. Family members that DJ wanted to meet? Harry could think of only one thing.

"Right." He said heaving a sigh. It had to happen sometime.

The doors opened and Rosalie and her husband walked in. Sirius' eyes lit up.

"Emmett!"

"Hey Sirius! Looking good!"

Sirius laughed weakly and gave him a hug. Rosalie kissed him on the cheek.

"Hi boys. You know, DJ? Ginny's looking for you." Rosalie said suddenly.

"Oh! Did she say –"

The doors creaked open once more and Lupin entered followed by Ginny looking a little shy. She shifted her head so that her hair, which was now just past her shoulders, covered a side of her face. Harry frowned at her but then turned away.

"Here you go." Ginny said giving DJ a scroll. He took it curiously and opened it.

Harry didn't want to intrude but he couldn't help lean his neck a little. He saw the Ministry stamp and signature.

"Great…" DJ muttered rolling it up. Rosalie was about to ask when he just waved his hand.

"It's nothing, just that the Ministry's ordering me to drop by the place every day along with Hermione to check up on my magic."

"Every day?"

"Yeah."

Rosalie frowned at that clearly not like it. Harry just sighed.

"While you're in there, tell Fudge that he's acting just like his name." Harry said casually.

Sirius guffawed and Ginny blinked.

"I can't believe you!"

"I am pretty unbelievable."

Sirius choked on his breath and Remus' jaw dropped.

"Whoa. James and Lily déjà vu." Emmett muttered.

"You can say that again." Rosalie whispered.

"Whoa. James and –"

"I didn't mean it literally!"

* * *

The place was quiet. There was a soft breeze, though that might have been because of DJ. His cousin was breathing slowly, aware of everything. A hand was placed very carefully on Harry's shoulder. He did his best to not flinch.

Godric's Hollow was a more or less abandoned village with the exception of a few families who preferred the solitary surroundings. There was no noise of the city. No buzzing of large crowds or activity of many youngsters like at Hogwarts.

The day was bright and sunset was just an hour away.

DJ had wanted to come here since he had found out where they were buried. Harry had wanted to avoid the place since he found out where they were buried.

But now, being accompanied by Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, Harry couldn't say no to DJ's pleading look given in the hospital wing.

"Over there." Lupin said in a low voice, looking to his right. The group turned at the cross road and walked for a few minutes before reaching a slightly rusty looking kissing gate.

The place was so quiet Harry could almost hear his family waiting.

They stood outside for a while before Sirius, with slightly trembling hands, pushed open the gate and went in.

There were many graves. Results of the war. Most of the headstones were faded, the engraved writing illegible, but others Harry could read.

Abbot, Cress, Mabel, Darin, Locke…

"Where are they?" DJ's voice sounded very loud in the silence.

Lupin sighed before saying over there.

They walked among the many rows slowing down once in a while whenever Sirius came across a familiar name. A while later, Lupin stopped.

"Right here."

DJ walked forwards and looked at the long row of Potters. There were many.

Sirius was frozen as he stared at the grave of his late best friend. Lupin let out a breath as if he was physically tired.

Harry walked along, reading each name and remembering the Family Book. There were a few children too from his father's time. Probably cousins of the previous generation.

There were too many.

DJ let out a small sniff as he stopped at one particular head stone.

Harry felt trapped as he watched tears on DJ's cheeks. The grave wasn't doing him any good. Why did he even want to come here? See, this was why Harry wanted to stay away!

"Hi Mum." DJ whispered. His shoulders shook a little. Harry clenched his jaw, not knowing what to do. He had purposely avoided his parents and sister. He didn't want to imagine them six feet underneath the ground. It wouldn't do anyone any good.

* * *

The end of the year feast was one to remember. Sirius had nearly brawled with Snape when he had found out that it was the Potions Master's fault that Lupin was resigning. Hagrid had given the ex-convict a bear hug and Madam Pomfrey had made him spend the night in the Hospital Wing for that sole reason.

When the official prescription for the 'relaxation trip' for Sirius came from St. Mungo's, Lupin had immediately agreed to accompany him for the duration. Harry had been looking forward to travel with them but there was a slight hitch.

The name of the hitch was DJ.

The Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries had come checking in on DJ and Hermione about their new found, all-too powerful Core Magic, a while back. After a short meeting with Dumbledore, it had been decided that the two would be spending three hours in the morning for at least a month in the Department of Mysteries, trying to learn how to control and harness their magic. Hermione had been ecstatic about it. DJ was torn between excitement about his magic and disappointment about not being able to be with Sirius and Lupin.

The problem was that if DJ had to stay behind, so did Harry. Harry decided that he could take his frustration out on the Dursleys and agreed sullenly.

"We'll bring you tons of souvenirs, okay?" Remus (as he informed them to call him) said clapping a hand on DJ's shoulder. Sirius picked up his carry-on and ruffled Harry's hair making it stick up horribly. He laughed.

"Just like your dads, boys."

DJ smiled at that. His owl, Garth hooted in his cage. Harry and Remus stored the two school trunks in the luggage compartments of the Hogwarts Express. Hedwig had complained a bit about staying with Harry and so he let her out of her cage. Bolt gave a wolfish smile to Sirius who grinned.

"I'm telling you Harry, Bolt's not a softie. Unless you give her chocolate."

Bolt looked offended at that while Remus and DJ snickered at her expression. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Write often." DJ said as the train whistled. Sirius smiled again and lifted his arms. DJ readily stepped into them. Remus gently nudged Harry who understood the gesture to be a hug, belatedly.

"Get me a high-tech cell phone." Harry said, in a muffled voice.

"…What?"

"Cell phone. I'll send you the details. I won't need any other souvenirs. "

Sirius shook his head in amusement. "You won't be able to use them around Hogwarts, Harry."

"That has been the accepted notion." Harry admitted. "Until I get my hands on the cell phone. I'll change the status of magic and electricity not being able to mix. People just haven't tried it."

"Right." Sirius said nodding solemnly. He took a look at his new gold watch, one of the apology gifts from the Ministry.

"Get in, get in! Train's about to leave."

It was bound to be a better summer, Harry thought. Many students beside him and DJ poked their noses outside the window to get a look at Sirius Black.

"Hey, look at that! I'm famous!"

DJ laughed. Harry gave a sigh as the train pulled out of the station. They caught a sight of Hagrid, jovially waving his large hand at the students.

Things were only going to go up from here.

* * *

DJ wrote thrice a week about everything he was allowed to share about the Department of Mysteries. Rosalie picked him up and dropped him everyday, to and from the Ministry.

Hermione too kept writing about her advancements. There were many reasons as to why both their magic had become activated at the same time, the most accepted theory being that _one ignited the other_.

They had yet to fully understand that.

Ron too kept up a slightly less stream of communication with Harry, focusing on Charlie's visit, Percy's employment in the Ministry, Fred and George's slightly unusual behavior of laying low and Ginny's snarky attitude, which Ron jokingly blamed on Harry.

_But seriously_, he had written, _you're rubbing off on her, buddy_.

Harry laid down Ron's letter on the small table and leaned his chair back. Looking around the small bedroom in House no. 4 of Privet Drive, Harry thought contendedly on how this was going to be his last summer here. If Sirius' health passed the St. Mungo's expectations, he, Remus, DJ and Harry would be moving into a new, better and more open place. Harry couldn't wait.

It was past five in the early evening. Hedwig was at Hermione's place delivering Harry's reply on one of her assignments by the Unspeakable. Bolt was perched as a cat on the maple tree outside Harry's window. Harry looked out into the sky. The sun was close to the horizon, but not yet time for twilight.

Harry leaned back to listen to nature's peaceful sounds.

"Petunia! Where's the cake?!"

"I told you! We're changing the entire menu for summer! Salad's on the table!"

"MUM! THERE ISN'T ANY ICE-CREAM IN THE FRIDGE!"

So much for that. Harry groaned as he grabbed his pillow and buried his face in it.

The sound of the telephone ringing reduced the voices and Harry sighed in relief. Silence was something the Dursleys would never appreciate.

"BOY!" The voice of his uncle came roaring from the living room. Harry sighed and waited.

"_Will you __**please **__come down here?!"_

Getting up slowly he strolled out of his room and walked at a flobberworm's pace down the stairs.

Uncle Vernon's face was a strange combination of purple and grey. Harry simply looked at the way he was holding the phone receiver and realized that the call was for him.

"For me?" He asked calmly. His uncle's face turned pale and dropped the receiver into Harry's outstretched palm.

"Hello?"

"Harry!" Sirius' jovial voice could be heard along with sounds of a crowd in the background. Harry couldn't help but feel better. Sirius and Remus had been calling Harry and DJ once a week after owl service became sketchy when they travelled so much. The last time they had communicated, the men were in China. Had they reached St. Mungo's or were they in another country?

* * *

Sirius clutched the phone tighter and grinned at the lady behind the counter of the café. Remus was standing in the long line waiting to place their orders. Sirius had wanted to call Harry about the portable telephone, Harry had asked about, a month ago.

He flipped the new digital camera he had bought to take photos from sightseeing around the world.

"Your uncle is a little weird, Harry." He said happily. Harry gave a snort and replied, "Yeah, he is. So, what're you doing?"

Sirius gave a shrug before realizing that Harry couldn't see. "Having a break. Beijing was our last stop. Remus and I will be reaching home any day now. Our last stop was a must! I had to try a cheese burger from its place of origin!"

"You're done? Sirius, that's good news! The sooner the better. How are you now?"

"Shouldn't you ask that first, Harry?" He teased. "Much better. The sun did me a lot of good. I spent four days camping out at the beach in South of France. We visited the French Minister of Magic. I didn't know much French, but he didn't know much of English either, so we were good."

"Do you want to learn French?" Harry asked genuinely. Sirius blinked and laughed, "May be one day, Potter. Now, I want to have a cheese burger and the line is way too long! Poor Remus has been waiting there for twenty minutes! Oh! Wait, it's his turn."

"Enjoy the burger." Harry said slowly.

Sirius nodded and leaned against the wall. The large building had a bright look to it, since it was just past lunch. Sirius' stomach was growling. The all-purpose building had a game room on the top floor and Sirius just had to see it! After a lunch of junk food. Muggle junk food was the best!

Sirius started talking about the new camera he had bought, when his eyes caught something.

He stared.

There, on the balcony of the first floor, he saw her.

She had her back to him and was talking to another man. They shook hands and the bloke left.

She turned around.

Sirius felt as though he had been hit by the Hogwarts Express and two bludgers.

From the distance, all he could make out was thick wavy black hair. It had a glossy look as it moved around when she moved.

"Sirius? Are you there?" Harry's voice came out from the phone but Sirius could hardly pay attention to that.

The woman, placed her hands on the railing and looked down at the large masses of people, walking around from shop to shop.

Sirius saw her pale face and set in there were bright eyes. He couldn't see properly, but there was a sudden urge to be near here.

"Sirius, can you hear me? Are you listening?"

"Uh… Harry, I'll call you back." Sirius mumbled.

"What?! No, wait."

"Bye."

"At least tell me where you are!"

He cut the call and started running.

* * *

"What the hell?" Harry muttered listening to the dead tone. He shook his head and went up stairs. Sirius must really like cheese burger. Harry wouldn't. It was junk and had cheese. Not that he had anything against cheese, but Harry had never touched junk food in his life. Same with Percy. The only thing they had ever had remotely close to it was French Fries and some coke. Treats from Mum when she felt they deserved non-nutritional food.

Harry just closed the door to his room when he had the strangest feeling.

Trelawney's words came back to him.

He stood there for five seconds before simply moving and jumping out the window, landing on the grass like an agile cheetah.

Bolt raised her head and then jumped on his shoulder without warning. Harry didn't even flinch. They had become slightly more cordial after a month's stay at the Dursleys. They had to stick together in the house of insanity.

"_What's wrong?"_ Bolt asked.

Harry frowned to himself. What was wrong?

He walked up to the rusted black gate which led to the forest behind the first row of Surrey houses. With a clean leap, he placed his hand on the wall and supported his legs, swinging over on to the other side.

He opened his mind to the wilderness.

The flood of green and life was relaxing. Being in his element, Harry felt everything in the forest. Human's never ventured here, so it was very peaceful, except for the occasional animal fights to the death, of course.

But now, something pulled him further in. And it wasn't the new sprig of Oleander flowers he had planted three weeks ago.

There was a light breeze and for a second he closed his eyes and saw the image of the ocean. The beach sand between his toes, the waves crashing by the rocks, the laughter of a young boy his age as Harry was splashed with the salty water…

He snapped back to reality. No…

Harry started walking. And then jogging. Soon he was sprinting forwards.

Bolt gripped his shoulder tightly, her claws sinking into his jacket.

He reached the river and looked towards the thicket of trees and grass. There were less bushes as he was close to the clearing near the centre of the forest.

He climbed over the small stones embedded into the river bed, planning to cross the water, when the strangest thing happened.

The flow slowed down. The amount of water lessened.

Harry stared open mouthed at the now empty river. He was standing on the stones, over the waterless path, thinking of what Ron and he himself had seen in the crystal ball during Divination Exam.

"Shit." He mumbled.

He flipped out his dagger, Skothos in his left and his wand in his right hand and advanced forward.

He felt more energized than he had been in years. As if this was it. Something was going to happen. He was one with the plants, every leaf, root, bud, fruit, flower, shoots. He was in a state of near omnipotence in the forest.

He walked a little more and saw something that didn't belong. Humans never wandered around in the Surrey forest willingly. So he had to assume that this human was here by accident.

The human was a girl, probably his age. She had curly golden coloured hair which shined in the sunlight. Her posture was slightly tense as she bent on her knees over the form of another human. Her back was to Harry, so he couldn't see the other one. But she didn't belong here. This was his forest.

Harry's foot crushed a dry leaf, it's crackling echoing slightly. The girl's head snapped up and Harry reacted. He raised a hand, a branch from the closest tree leaned downwards for him to grasp and lift him up and out of her sight as she turned around.

Harry kept as still as possible. From his current position, he saw a partial of her face. She had tanned skin. Her orange shirt was short sleeved and he could see a few scars on her arms. Strands of her hair blew across her face. He saw her hand clench as if she was tensed for an attack.

This girl was no stranger to fighting.

Harry couldn't take his eyes off of her. There was something about her that made Harry want to know. As if she was going to be an important factor in his life.

He clenched his jaw and moved forwards, flitting through the trees. Bolt had retracted into his mind and she was quiet too.

He dropped down beside the river again and hid behind a tree. When she turned front, he saw her light-coloured eyes glinting with a slight superiority.

She reminded him of Draco Malfoy, yet she was completely different at the same time.

She leaned down towards the boy in front of her and said, "I'm so gonna kill you, Seaweed Brain."

Warning bells went off in Harry's head. Was she threatening the unconscious boy? Was he her prey?

Harry didn't take much notice of the boy. The only thing he saw clearly was a blue jacket over an orange shirt. The boy's hair was long and purple in colour. Ridiculous.

'_Focus!'_ Bolt shouted.

Harry frowned at her and stepped out from behind the tree.

"Don't move, if you value your life." He said in his most intimidating voice.

She froze, he face still watching the boy below her. Harry took another step forward and said, "Get up."

She stumbled a bit as her legs were unsteady on the soft sand of the river bed. Her hands were raised slightly.

She then lifted her head and Harry saw her clearly.

Her eyes were the most prominent feature in her face. They were a bright and stormy grey in colour. It made her look lethal. Her face was tanned and Harry tried not to feel jealous. It wasn't the time for thinking about sun bathing.

She was close to his height, and the way she held herself, Harry could tell that she was trying to figure out a way to overpower him.

As if that was possible. But he wouldn't mind if she did try to attack him. It had been a while since he fought anyone.

"Move towards that tree." He said gesturing to the closest one on her right. She stepped carefully and stopped when her fingers felt the bark. She never looked away from him.

For some reason, this unnerved him. It was as if she thought that she could actually fight him. As if she had something on her side that would guarantee her win.

Harry stepped towards her and felt his shoe get damp.

He looked down at the boy in confusion. The river was dry wasn't it? How was there water?

Harry felt his throat dry up when he stared at the boy.

Pale skin. Clothe Colour – Blue. A sweet face during sleep. Long hair. Purple though. But clearly dyed.

It couldn't be… Harry thought in horror. He was frozen to the spot as he looked at him.

The river water wasn't just gone. It was congregating around his body as if trying to help him. He didn't look wet.

Harry's hands went slack. This wasn't any boy.

"Percy?" He whispered staring at the clear face of the boy he had been hoping to see for six years.

* * *

**Stay tuned for the next story – The Framed. Not giving anything away.**

**Cabba.**


End file.
